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- double-cross (n.) "act of treachery," 1834, from double (adj.) + cross (n.) in the sense of "pre-arranged swindle or fix." Originally to win a race after promising to lose it (to cheat in cheating, hence the double). As a verb from 1903, "to cheat," American English.
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Oct 3, 2018 · America it was the name of a characteristic step of a rustic dance or breakdown, derived from slave dancing on plantations. A double-dip (n.) originally was an ice-cream cone made with two scoops (1936); the figurative sense is by 1940.
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The term 'double-cross' has been used in various contexts for many centuries, usually as a straightforward reference to the shape of two crosses, as in the architectural design of cathedrals for example. That meaning is unrelated to the current figurative 'cheating' usage of 'double cross', which dates only from the late 18th century. To find the o...
Given that, by the mid 1700s, the language included both 'cross' and 'double', it wasn't a great leap to introduce the term 'double cross' to refer to aggravated duplicity. Double crossing dealings are the precise opposite of those that are 'fair and square', but the two expressions do have one thing in common - they are both tautological. 'Fair' a...
The sporting usage was defined a few years later, in an early self-help tome, written by 'Two Citizens of the World' and 'Containing Hints to the Unwary to Avoid the Stratagems of Swindlers, Cyprians and Lawyers', that is, How To Live In London, 1828:
A systematic policy of double crossing was given the UK government's official, if covert, sanction during the WWII. In 1941, MI5 set up a military counter espionage unit called The Twenty Committee, chaired by John Masterman. The naming of this unit clearly linked the double crosses of the Roman numerals for twenty (XX) with one of the unit's aims,...
Nov 16, 2015 · Sometimes the patriarchal cross has a short, slanted crosspiece near its foot (Orthodox cross). This slanted, lower crosspiece often appears in Byzantine Greek and Eastern European iconography, as well as Eastern Orthodox churches.
Double cross. Used either as a verb or noun and now means to betray or a betrayal. From the early 19th century, a cross was slang for a pre-arranged swindle in sports gambling, and a double cross meant reneging on the first, pre-arranged outcome, double being used here in the sense of duplicity.
The meaning of DOUBLE-CROSS is to deceive by double-dealing : betray. How to use double-cross in a sentence.
Aug 19, 2024 · double-cross (third-person singular simple present double-crosses, present participle double-crossing, simple past and past participle double-crossed) To betray or go back on; to deceive someone after having gained their trust and led them to believe that they were being aided.
uk / ˌdʌb. ə lˈkrɒs / us / ˌdʌb. ə lˈkrɑːs /. a trick in which you deceive someone when you are doing something illegal together or when you are planning to trick someone else together: They set up a double-cross to cheat him of his money. More examples.
