cross wires
cross wires verb: to cause difficulty; to interact in a way that generates conflict.
Verb (1)
cross wires (third-person singular simple present crosses wires, present participle crossing wires, simple past and past participle crossed wires)
- To cause difficulty; to interact in a way that generates conflict.
- After Diodorus, Josephus († ca. A.D. 95) is our chief source of information about the Nabataeans, but Josephus was interested in them only as they crossed wires with the Hebrews.1949, Philip Khuri Hitti, History of the Arabs, page 68
- While AFSA demands justice, we cannot tolerate or sit quietly back and watch colleagues being targeted, secretly investigated, discredited and financially abused because they crossed wires with IG staff.1993, United States, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs, The Integrity and Effectiveness of the Offices of Inspector General, page 16
Verb (2)
cross wires (third-person singular simple present crosses wires, present participle crossing wires, simple past and past participle crossed wires)
- To interact in a way that causes confusion or interference.
- The natural sturdy democracy of childhood brings the four together as friends, and though each pair of cousins was naturally destined to complete each other's lives, Nature crosses wires for a while and tangles the four young hearts in a web of conflicting emotions.1913, The Publishers Weekly - Volume 83, page 564
- Your sentiment crosses wires with your common sense, and you pay the penalty when the power goes off and your lights go out1915, The Silent Partner - Volume 11, page 161
Noun
cross wires pl (plural only)
- Synonym of reticle.
- The instrumental adjustment of these parts is confined to the fixing of the intersection of the cross wires in the axis of the equal cylindrical rings bearing on the Ys, or, in other words, in the line of collimation.1869, John A. Smith, A Treatise on Land Surveying in theory and practice
- After levelling the instrument, bisect some very remote object with the cross wires of this second telescope, and clamp it firm; if the instrument is steady, the bisection will remain permanent whilst any number of angles are measured, and by examining the bisection from time to time during the...1875, A Manual of Surveying for India, page 68
- Synonyms:
- reticle
Synonyms of cross wires
Forms of cross wires
| third-person singular present | crosses wires |
|---|---|
| present participle | crossing wires |
| past participle | crossed wires |
| past | crossed wires |
Origin of cross wires
From the way two electrical wires that cross can create a short circuit.
Possibly a back formation from get one's wires crossed.
From the use of fine wires placed perpendicular to each other in the optical pieces of telescopes.
Questions about cross wires
- What does cross wires mean?
- Cross wires means to cause difficulty; to interact in a way that generates conflict.
- What part of speech is cross wires?
- Cross wires can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of cross wires?
- The past tense of cross wires is crossed wires.
Words near cross wires in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cross wires (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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Cite this entry: “cross wires.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cross_wires. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.