Word.ws English Dictionary

cross writing

cross writing is the alternative form of cross-writing.

cross writing is the present participle and gerund of cross write.

Meaning of cross-writing

Noun

cross-writing (countable and uncountable, plural cross-writings)

  1. (historical, postal) A 19th-century technique for saving paper and postage by writing a letter in one direction, then turning the page ninety degrees and writing perpendicularly across the first set of text, creating two layers of text; a practical solution to expensive postal rates, especially before modern postal reforms, allowing more information to fit on a single sheet.

Meaning of cross write

Verb

cross write (third-person singular simple present cross writes, present participle cross writing, simple past cross wrote, past participle cross written)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To write across a page, and then turn the paper ninety degrees and overwrite, done in order to lessen the cost of sending a letter when postage costs were based on weight.

Forms of cross writing

pluralcross writings

Questions about cross writing

What is cross writing the alternative form of?
Cross writing is the alternative form of cross-writing.

Words near cross writing in the dictionary

  1. cross vault
  2. cross vaults
  3. cross volga
  4. cross wires
  5. cross write
  6. cross writing
  7. cross'd
  8. cross-
  9. cross-appeal
  10. cross-appealed
  11. cross-appealing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross writing (page history and authors); cross-writing (page history and authors); cross write (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 writing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cross_writing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.