See also Cross, verb, sense 1.
On the cross, phr.—The opposite of on the square (q.v.). Cf., On the Crook.
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xxxv. [Chas. Ravenshoe to Shoeblack] 'Have you any brothers?' 'Five altogether. Jim was gone for a sojer, it appeared; and Nipper was sent over the water, Harry was gone on the cross.' 'On the cross?' said Charles. 'Ah,' the boy said, 'he goes out cly-faking and such. He's a prig, and a smart one, too. He's fly, is Harry.'
1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. v. Rake had seen a good deal of men and manners, and, in his own opinion at least, was 'up to every dodge on the cross' that this iniquitous world could unfold.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. We went down to a bloke I knew up in one of the streets leading off the Euston road who did a little on the cross now and again, to see what he'd stand for the £300.
1884. Echo, 1 March, p. 3, col. 6. Prisoner knew they were stolen, and said he could get rid of any quantity of similar articles that were got on the cross, a slang expression for stolen goods.
1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 25. One of them then came a little nearer, and produced a good gold scarf pin, worth, perhaps, £2 or £3, and asked if I would buy it, adding it was on the cross (stolen), and I could have it for 2s., as they wanted a shilling to get a bed.
Cross-Belts, subs. (military).—The
Eighth Hussars. [The regiment
wears the sword belt
over the right shoulder in memory
of the Battle of Saragossa, where
it took the belts of the Spanish
cavalry. This privilege was confirmed
by the King's Regulations
of 1768.
Cross-Bite, subs. (old).—See
Cross-biting.
Verb (old).—To cheat; to scold; to hoax. [Nares thinks it a compound of cross and bite. It has suffered a double abbreviation, both its components being used substantively and verbally in the same sense.] For synonyms, see Stiff.
1581. Riche, Farewell to Militarie Profession. She was such a devill of her tongue, and would so crossebite hym with suche tauntes and spightful quippes.
1593. G. Harvey, New Letter, in wks. I., 274 (Grosart). If he playeth at fast and loose . . . whom shall he conny catch, or crosbite, but his cast-away selfe.
1717. Prior, Alma, canto iii. As Nature slily had thought fit For some by ends to cross-bit wit.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. I know—I know—ugh—but I'll cross-bite him.
Cross-Biter, subs. (old).—A
cheat; swindler; or hoaxer.
[From cross-bite, verb (q.v.), +
er.] Fr., un goureur.
1592. Robert Greene, Blacke Bookes Messenger [part of title]. Laying open the Life and Death of Ned Browne, one of the most notable Cutpurses, cros-biters, and Coneycatchers.
1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 108, s.v.
1681. A Dialogue, etc., in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 126. I think nobody knows what he is; but I take him to be a cross-biter.
Cross-Biting, verbal subs. (old).—A
deception; cheat; or hoax.
Cf., Cross-bite, verb.
1576. Whetstone, Rocke of Regard, p. 50. Crosbiting, a kind of cousoning, under the couler of friendship; and in his epistle to the readers, The cheter will fume to see his crosbiting and cunning shiftes decyphered.
1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, IV, v. Like one that is employed in catzerie [knavery] and crossbiting.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 53 (H. Club's Repr., 1874). He [Lawrence Crosbiter] first vsed that art which now is named crosbiting, and from whose name this damned art (crosbiting) tooke her first call, as if Laurence Crosbiter first inuented the same.
