Word.ws English Dictionary

cross as two sticks

cross as two sticks adjective: particularly ill-natured and disagreeable.

Adjective

cross as two sticks (not comparable)

  1. (simile) Particularly ill-natured and disagreeable.

Origin of cross as two sticks

A pun on cross (“angry”) and cross (“to lay one thing over another”).

Questions about cross as two sticks

What does cross as two sticks mean?
Cross as two sticks means particularly ill-natured and disagreeable.
What part of speech is cross as two sticks?
Cross as two sticks is an adjective.

Words near cross as two sticks in the dictionary

  1. cross action
  2. cross actions
  3. cross aisle
  4. cross aisles
  5. cross and pile
  6. cross as two sticks
  7. cross assembler
  8. cross assemblers
  9. cross axle
  10. cross axles
  11. cross bat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross as two sticks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-cross as two sticks.ogg.

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