Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An image or figure of Jesus on the cross.
  • noun A cross viewed as a symbol of Jesus's crucifixion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To crucify.
  • noun A cross, or representation of a cross, with the crucified figure of Christ upon it.
  • noun The cross of Christ; hence, the religion of Christ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A representation in art of the figure of Christ upon the cross; esp., the sculptured figure affixed to a real cross of wood, ivory, metal, or the like, used by the Roman Catholics in their devotions.
  • noun rare The cross or religion of Christ.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A wooden cross used for crucifixions, as by the Romans.
  • noun An ornamental or symbolic sculptural representation of Christ on a crucifix, often worn as a pendant or displayed in a Christian church.
  • noun gymnastics The iron cross, a position on the rings where the gymnast holds the rings straight out on either side of the body.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun representation of the cross on which Jesus died
  • noun a gymnastic exercise performed on the rings when the gymnast supports himself with both arms extended horizontally

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin crucifīxus, from Latin, past participle of crucifīgere, crucify; see crucify.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • Reminds me of a bit from a monologue by Ben Elton. Supposedly a true story, he's standing in a jeweller's and overhears the following conversation:

    Customer: Do you have any crucifixes?

    Salesgirl: Umm, what's that?

    Customer: You know, a pendant that's like a cross.

    Salesgirl: Ooh, yes! Would you be wanting a plain one or one with a little man on it?

    December 9, 2007

  • Eesh! Yeah, lots of people seem not to know that a cross without a "little man on it" is just a cross. A crucifix by definition has a corpus.

    December 9, 2007