Advertisement
Advertisement
double cross
1noun
- a betrayal or swindle of a colleague.
- an attempt to win a contest that one has agreed beforehand to lose. Compare cross ( def 21 ).
- Genetics. a cross in which both parents are first-generation hybrids from single crosses, thus involving four inbred lines.
double-cross
2[ duhb-uhl-kraws, -kros ]
verb (used with object)
- to prove treacherous to; betray or swindle, as by a double cross.
double-cross
1verb
- tr to cheat or betray
noun
- the act or an instance of double-crossing; betrayal
double cross
2noun
- a technique for producing hybrid stock, esp seed for cereal crops, by crossing the hybrids between two different pairs of inbred lines
Derived Forms
- ˈdouble-ˈcrosser, noun
Other Words From
- double-crosser noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of double cross1
Origin of double cross2
Idioms and Phrases
A deliberate betrayal; violation of a promise or obligation, as in They had planned a double cross, intending to keep all of the money for themselves . This usage broadens the term's earlier sense in sports gambling, where it alluded to the duplicity of a contestant who breaks his word after illicitly promising to lose. Both usages gave rise to the verb double-cross . [Late 1800s]Example Sentences
Then a double cross happens, and Rachel learns what some viewers might have suspected — that one of her colleagues is in cahoots with Keya!
It’s all dangerous deals and double crosses, yet it whiffs on an opportunity for an actually interesting double cross that might have made us sit up and pay attention.
"You can choose to lie to a character, you can help them, you can gain their trust, you can double cross folks," said Ann Morrow Johnson, executive producer and creative director for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Still, the Jefferson dream lives on, in the form of flags — a gold pan and two Xs, a heavy-handed symbol of the double cross — that, during the pandemic, have adorned face masks.
“I thought they were actually interested in solving this case rather than doing a double cross and running to the house and arresting my client before we can even finish helping them.”
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse