Word.ws English Dictionary

take the cross

take the cross verb: to accept a sign or badge depicting the Christian cross as part of an oath or vow, especially to take part in a crusade.

Verb

take the cross (third-person singular simple present takes the cross, present participle taking the cross, simple past took the cross, past participle taken the cross)

  1. (historical) To accept a sign or badge depicting the Christian cross as part of an oath or vow, especially to take part in a crusade.
    • And in this respect he was not alone; noblemen throughout Europe were forever taking the cross and vowing loudly to set sail for the Holy Land, only to discover any number of good reasons for not actually doing so.2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 63

Forms of take the cross

third-person singular presenttakes the cross
present participletaking the cross
pasttook the cross
past participletaken the cross

Questions about take the cross

What does take the cross mean?
Take the cross means to accept a sign or badge depicting the Christian cross as part of an oath or vow, especially to take part in a crusade.
What part of speech is take the cross?
Take the cross is a verb.
What is the past tense of take the cross?
The past tense of take the cross is took the cross.

Words near take the cross in the dictionary

  1. take the Chiltern Hundreds
  2. take the cloth
  3. take the con
  4. take the count
  5. take the coward's way out
  6. take the cross
  7. take the cure
  8. take the easy way out
  9. take the edge off
  10. take the fall
  11. take the field

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take the cross (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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