Word.ws English Dictionary

cross one's fingers

cross one's fingers verb: to put the middle finger across the index finger, especially.

Verb

cross one's fingers (third-person singular simple present crosses one's fingers, present participle crossing one's fingers, simple past and past participle crossed one's fingers)

  1. To put the middle finger across the index finger, especially
    • She was seen crossing her fingers in the wedding photo.
  2. when wishing for luck, or
    • I hope everything turns out OK. I'll cross my fingers for you. / I'll cross my fingers that everything turns out OK.
    • “Cross your fingers that the readership loves it.” Joy crossed her fingers.2011, Jayne Addison, About That Kiss, →ISBN
  3. when telling a lie (and attempting to escape the moral and other consequence of that lie).
    • Amanda placed her right hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. Her friend Sarah told her if you cross your fingers behind your back when you tell a lie, it's not a lie. Amanda didn't know if she believed that, but she crossed her fingers anyway.2007, Toni White, Ridge Street Home, →ISBN, page 5
    • “You focus your efforts on managing your prosecutors and show up to try that case. I'll handle the rest.” Ryan nodded assent but crossed her fingers behind her back. She would do more than just show up.2011, Carsen Taite, Nothing But the Truth, →ISBN

Forms of cross one's fingers

third-person singular presentcrosses one's fingers
present participlecrossing one's fingers
past participlecrossed one's fingers
pastcrossed one's fingers

Origin of cross one's fingers

* As a gesture of good luck, from the Christian notion of inconspicuously making a sign of the cross as an invocation to God. * As a gesture of lying, probably from the Schwurhand, a gesture used in some European countries when taking an oath. The right hand is raised with the index and middle fingers extended upwards (somewhat similarly to a V sign but with the thumb on the side). By crossing the two fingers, the oath is thus symbolically broken.

Questions about cross one's fingers

What does cross one's fingers mean?
Cross one's fingers means to put the middle finger across the index finger, especially.
What part of speech is cross one's fingers?
Cross one's fingers is a verb.
What is the past tense of cross one's fingers?
The past tense of cross one's fingers is crossed one's fingers.

Words near cross one's fingers in the dictionary

  1. cross of gold
  2. cross of Lorraine
  3. cross of Malta
  4. cross off
  5. cross one's arms
  6. cross one's fingers
  7. cross one's heart
  8. cross one's legs
  9. cross oneself
  10. cross out
  11. cross over

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross one's fingers (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cross one's fingers.wav.

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