crisscross: [16] Crisscross is an alteration of Christscrosse, a term used from the 16th to 18th centuries for the figure of a cross (not specifically, as the name would seem to suggest, the crucifix). Gradually the original signification of the first syllable came to be lost, and the term fell into the pattern of reduplicated words (such as flipflop, singsong) in which a syllable is repeated with variation of the vowel. This may have contributed to the broadening of the word’s meaning to ‘pattern of repeated crossings’, which happened in the 19th century.
crisscross (v.)
1818, from Middle English crist(s)-crosse "Christ's cross" (late 15c.), earlier cros-kryst (late 14c.), "referring to the mark of a cross formerly written before the alphabet in hornbooks. The mark itself stood for the phrase Christ-cross me speed ('May Christ's cross give me success'), a formula said before reciting the alphabet" [Barnhart]. Used today without awareness of origin. As an adjective, 1846; as a noun, 1848.
雙語例句
1. Ducts and pipes crisscross.
管道縱橫交錯(cuò).
來自《現(xiàn)代漢英綜合大詞典》
2. Four - lane highways crisscross the country.
四線干道縱橫交叉布于全國.
來自辭典例句
3. These concepts are inter - related and differentiate, making a crisscross network of dialects.