crossing wires

Verb (1)

cross wires (third-person singular simple present crosses wires, present participle crossing wires, simple past and past participle crossed wires)

1. 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

Verb (2)

cross wires (third-person singular simple present crosses wires, present participle crossing wires, simple past and past participle crossed wires)

1. 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

See all 3 meanings of cross wires