Word.ws English Dictionary

crosshaul

/ˈkrɒs.hɔːl/

crosshaul noun: the transportation of goods away from a locality while similar goods are simultaneously transported into the same locality, often resulting in inefficiencies.

Noun

crosshaul (countable and uncountable, plural crosshauls)

  1. (logistics) The transportation of goods away from a locality while similar goods are simultaneously transported into the same locality, often resulting in inefficiencies.
    • In attempting both to define the nature of the crosshaul and to arrive at a quantitative measurement of its effects, comparison may be made of the freights actually paid with those that would be paid were the movement from mills freightwise nearest.1932, United States. Federal Trade Commission, Report of the Federal Trade Commission on Price Bases Inquiry: The Basing-point Formula and Cement Prices., U.S. Government Printing Office, page 135
    • Since June 1, 1935, however, applicant has curtailed his cross-haul operation, as indicated by the fact that during a similar 5-month period in 1936 he transported only about 35 cross-haul shipments out of a total of approximately 1,400 shipments, and during similar periods in 1937 and 1938 he...1941 May - November, “Darling (Dallas L.) Common Carrier Application”, in DECISIONS OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION OF THE UNITED STATES, page 613
  2. A method of shifting cargo or rigging by moving it across rather than along the length of a vessel.
    • If you don't have a second track for your headsail's lead, a second line, like a Barberhauler or crosshaul, can redirect a lead ourboard or inboard, respectively.1995 August, Tom Whidden, “The Magic of Black Magic”, in Yachting, volume 178, number 2, page 28
    • A crosshaul connects to the sheet or clew and pulls the lead inboard.1996 December, “Changing the Lead for Speed”, in Yachting, volume 180, number 6, page 26

Verb

crosshaul (third-person singular simple present crosshauls, present participle crosshauling, simple past and past participle crosshauled)

  1. (logistics) To transport goods away from a locality while similar goods are simultaneously transported into the same locality, often resulting in inefficiencies.
    • The example that I have used of crosshauling between Pittsburgh and Chicago is an extreme case which, in actual practice, probably seldom occurs, but is illustrative of crosshauling which does occur in very large quantities from various districts.1932, United States. Federal Trade Commission, Report of the Federal Trade Commission on Price Bases Inquiry: The Basing-point Formula and Cement Prices., U.S. Government Printing Office, page 134
    • The resulting shipments have been called by critics of the basing point practice “cross-hauling”.1940, UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION T.N.E.C. PAPERS, VOLUME III THE BASING POINT METHOD, United States Steel Corporation, page 5

Examples of crosshaul in a sentence

  • Because the reverse was true with respect to the small proportion of large mills in these regions, the average degree of crosshaul would tend to decline sharply as the size of crush increased.1954 February, COMPARATIVE ECONOMIES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF COTTONSEED OIL MILLS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON OIL SUPPLIES PRICES AND RETURNS TO...
  • It was explained that the report indicated that a total saving of 98 T-2's would be available if the identified crosshauls had been or were eliminated for the 3rd Quarter.1969, United States. Oil and Gas Office, Middle East Petroleum Emergency of 1967, volume 2, page 51:
  • Mainsheet control is through a mainsheet traveller with roller bearing car and crosshaul tackle recessed into the bridge deck.2024 June 2, Wikipedia contributors, “C&C 37/40”, in English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation:

Forms of crosshaul

Noun
pluralcrosshauls
Verb
third-person singular presentcrosshauls
present participlecrosshauling
past participlecrosshauled
pastcrosshauled

Origin of crosshaul

From cross- + haul.

Questions about crosshaul

What does crosshaul mean?
Crosshaul means the transportation of goods away from a locality while similar goods are simultaneously transported into the same locality, often resulting in inefficiencies.
How do you use crosshaul in a sentence?
Because the reverse was true with respect to the small proportion of large mills in these regions, the average degree of crosshaul would tend to decline sharply as the size of crush increased.
What part of speech is crosshaul?
Crosshaul can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce crosshaul?
Crosshaul is pronounced /ˈkrɒs.hɔːl/.
What is the plural of crosshaul?
The plural of crosshaul is crosshauls.

Words near crosshaul in the dictionary

  1. crosshatch
  2. crosshatched
  3. crosshatches
  4. crosshatching
  5. crosshatchings
  6. crosshaul
  7. crosshauled
  8. crosshauling
  9. crosshauls
  10. Crosshaven
  11. crosshead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crosshaul (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: “crosshaul.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crosshaul. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.