crossing

Pluralcrossings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An intersection where roads, lines, or railroad tracks cross one another.

   Engineers redesigned the crossing where three rail lines converge.

   Accidents are common at crossings without warning lights.

   Similarintersection, junction, crossroads

   Note

   Railway writing gives this sense a fixed phrase: a flat crossing, where one line meets another on the same level instead of passing over it on a bridge. At Newark, for example, the East Coast Main Line crosses the Nottingham to Lincoln line this way. The word names the meeting point itself, while a place to get across names a spot chosen for passage, such as a ford or a bridge.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A place where a river, railroad, or highway may be crossed from one side to the other.

   The bridge replaced an ancient river crossing used for centuries.

   Settlers built their town near a natural crossing of the two trails.

   Similarford, passage

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A voyage from one side of a body of water to the other by boat or ship.

   The Atlantic crossing once took weeks under sail.

   Storms delayed their crossing to the mainland by a full day.

   Similarvoyage, passage, journey, trip

4. 4
   nouncountable

   The act of moving across a stretch of land, a road, or similar ground.

   The crossing of the mountain range tested every climber's strength.

   Soldiers practiced a quick crossing of open ground under cover.

   Similartraverse, passage, transit

5. 5
   verb

   Present participle of cross.

   The hikers were crossing the ridge when the storm hit.

   He kept crossing items off his list all afternoon.

   Note

   The verb form shares its spelling with every noun sense of the word, and grammar tells them apart. As a participle or gerund, it takes a direct object: crossing the ridge, crossing items off a list. The noun needs of instead, as in the crossing of the ridge. Used reflexively, crossing oneself means making the sign of the cross.

6. 6
   nounPhilippinescountableabbreviationellipsis

   Ellipsis of pedestrian crossing.

   A driver stopped to let pedestrians use the crossing.

   The new crossing has flashing lights for safety.

   Note

   Philippine English lets the single word stand for the whole phrase: a crossing is a pedestrian crossing, a place where people on foot are permitted or advised to cross the street. Elsewhere the clipped form could suggest a road or rail intersection. Outside the Philippines, the full compound is the safer choice when the meaning must be unmistakable.

7. 7
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The mating of two different breeds, varieties, or species to produce offspring.

   The crossing of wild and domestic strains improved disease resistance.

   Repeated crossings produced a hardier wheat variety.

   Similarcrossbreeding, hybridization, interbreeding

8. 8
   nouncountable

   Movement of two things into a position where they lie across each other.

   The dancer's crossing of the ankles marked the end of the move.

   A nervous crossing of the fingers gave away his hope.

   Note

   Writing on body language uses the countable form freely. Stephen Tchudi and Diana Mitchell's Explorations in the Teaching of English (1989) lists leg crossings and uncrossings among the nonverbal signals a speaker sends. The pairing is the useful part. Because this sense names a movement, it has a natural reverse, uncrossing, which the senses of the word that name places do not.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   The act of opposing or thwarting someone, going against what they want.

   The minister resented any crossing of his authority.

   Their constant crossing of the captain's orders bred mutiny.

   Similardefiance, opposition, thwarting

10. 10
    nouncountable

    In a cross-shaped church, the central space where the nave, chancel, and transepts intersect, often topped by a tower or dome.

    A great stone tower rises directly over the crossing.

    The architect placed the choir just east of the crossing.

    Note

    Church architecture takes the word from the floor plan: a cruciform church is laid out as a cross, and this is where its arms meet. Writers locate everything else by it, as in the choir east of the crossing or the tower over the crossing, so it nearly always takes the definite article. When a tower or cupola rises here, it marks the building's center from outside as well.

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