cross the stream where it is shallowest
Act where it is easiest or safest
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cross the Thames
to attend a meeting or event in a different part of a city
cross the Tiber
To convert to Catholicism
cross to take up
to accept a challenge
cross with its beak
Schwenckfeld in 1603 {Theriotropheum Silesia) gave the fable in the Latin verses of Johannes Major; but it would be better known to English readers through Longfellow's "Legend of the Crossbill" from the German of Julius Mosen.
cross-buttock
An unexpected fling down or repulse; from a peculiar throw practised by wrestlers.
cross-crib
A house frequented by thieves.
Cross-legged Knights
Crusaders were gen- erally represented on their tombs with crossed legs.
crossed
Prohibited from taking food from the buttery.—University.
crossword puzzle
A puzzle in which words must be discovered to fill in, letter by letter, the squares into which a rectangular diagram is divided. Clues are furnished and most of the letters form parts of two words, one reading across and the other down the rectangle. There have long been simple puzzles of this nature, but the more ingenious crossword was invented in U.S.A., about 1923, and immediately welcomed in Britain.
crotch crickets
Pubic lice.
crotch critter
A sexually transmitted pathogen, particularly pubic lice.
crotch down
To crouch.
crotch dumpling
A child.
crotch goblin
A child.
crotchling
A child.
Crotona's Sage
Pythagoras. So called because at Crotona he established his chief school of philosophy (about 530 B.C.). Such success followed his teaching that the whole aspect of the town became more moral and decorous in a marvellously short time.
crow
Or COCK-CROW, to exult over another’s abasement, as a fighting-cock does over his vanquished adversary.
crow fair
A visitation of the clergy. See REVIEW OF THE BLACK CUIRASSIERS.
crow to pick
a dispute or issue to be settled
crow to pluck
to have a dispute or issue to resolve
crow to pull
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Crow's Nest
The "look out'* — originally a barrel fixed to the masthead of an old- fashioned whaling-ship. Crowd, Croud, or Crouth. An ancient Celtic species of fiddle with from three to six strings (Welsh crwth). Hence crowder, a player on a crowd. The last noted player on this instru- ment was John Morgan, who died in 1720.
crowbar hotel
Jail.
crowd
A fiddle: probably from CROOTH, the Welch name for that instrument.
crowd in on
To surround or press in on someone closely
crowd sail
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
crowdy
Oatmeal and water, or milk; a mess much eaten in the north.
Crown of the East
Antioch, capital of Syria, which consisted of four walled cities, encompassed by a common rampart, that "enrounded them like a coronet.
crown office
The head. I fired into her keel upwards; my eyes and limbs Jack, the crown office was full; I s--k-d a woman with her a-e upwards, she was so drunk, that her head lay on the ground.
Crown Prince
The title of the heir-apparent to the throne in some countries, as Sweden, Denmark, and Japan (formerly also in Ger- many).
crown to put them down
The necessity has long since ceased, but the office remains; and, since 1740, when a Member of Parliament wishes to vacate his seat, one way of doing so is by applying for the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds; for no member of Parliament may resign his seat, but if he accepts an office of profit under the Crown he is obliged to be re-elected if he wishes to remain a member.
crowned with bays
A reward of victory: from the custom that obtained in ancient Rome of so crowning a victorious general.
Crowns of Egypt
Ancient Egypt was divided into two parts, Upper Egypt, or the South Land, and Lower Egypt, or the Northern Land, the kings styling themselves suten bat, kings of the north and south. As ruler of the two countries each king wore the crown made up of the White Crown of the South and the Red Crown of the North, and it is from this crown, named Pschent, that they can be distin- guished in hieroglyphics or on monuments.
crows will not pick out crows eyes
People will not criticize or punish those of their own kind
crowsfeet
Wrinkles which gather in the corners of the eyes of old or dissipated people.
cruel mistress
Something that is attractive but also punishing or unkind
crug
Bread.
crug
Food. Christ’s Hospital boys apply it only to bread.
cruisers
Beggars, or highway spies, who traverse the road, to give intelligence of a booty; also rogues ready to snap up any booty that may offer, like privateers or pirates on a cruise.
crumb cruncher
A child.
crumb crusher
A child.
crumb grinder
A child.
crumb snatcher
A child.
crumbs
"to pick up one’s CRUMBS," to begin to have an appetite after an illness; to improve in health, circumstances, &c., after a loss thereof.
crummy
Fat, fleshy. A fine crummy dame; a fat woman. He has picked up his crumbs finely of late; he has grown very fat, or rich, of late.
crummy
Fat, plump.—North. In London street slang, lousy.
crummy-doss
A lousy or filthy bed.
crumpet
A sexually attractive person or, collectively, people; usually referring to women.
crumpet-face
A face pitted with small-pox marks.
crunch
To crush. Perhaps from the sound of teeth grinding against each other.
crunch numbers
to calculate or analyze data, especially financial information
Cruscan School
A school of poetry started by some young Englishmen at Florence in the latter part of the 18th century. Their silly, sentimental affectations, which appeared in the World and the Oracle, created for a time quite a furore, but were mercilessly gibbeted in the Baviadand Mceviad of GifTord (1794 and 1795).
crush
To run or decamp rapidly. CRUSH DOWN SIDES, run to a place of safety, or the appointed rendezvous.—North Country Cant.
crush it
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
crushed fey his honours
The allusion is to the legend of the Roman damsel, Tarpeia, who agreed to open the gates of Rome to King Tatius, provided his soldiers would give her the ornaments which they wore on their arms. As they entered they threw their shields on her and crushed her, saying as they did so, "These are the ornaments worn by Sabines on their arms.
crushing
Excellent, first-rate.
crusted port
When port is first bottled its fermentation is not complete; m time it precipitates argol on the sides of the bottle, where it forms a crust. Crusted port, there- fore, is port which has completed its fermenta- tion. A splash of whitewash is usually dabbed on the bottle so that it will be kept the right way up, for careless movement would cause the crust to slip and spoil the wine.
crusty
Ill-tempered, petulant, morose.—Old, said to be a corruption of the Anglo-Norman CORUSEUX.
crusty beau
One that uses paint and cosmetics, to obtain a fine complexion.
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