English Dictionary

SIGN OF THE CROSS

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IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sign of the cross mean? 

SIGN OF THE CROSS (noun)
  The noun SIGN OF THE CROSS has 1 sense:

1. a gesture with the right hand moving to form a cross; used by Catholics as a profession of faithplay

  Familiarity information: SIGN OF THE CROSS used as a noun is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


SIGN OF THE CROSS (noun)


Sense 1

Meaning:

A gesture with the right hand moving to form a cross; used by Catholics as a profession of faith

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sign of the cross" is a kind of...):

gesture; motion (the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals)


 Context examples 


When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

One by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial; these were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good faith, with a kindly word, and a blessing, and that strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at Bistritz—the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." (English proverb)

"The rain falls on the just and the unjust." (Native American proverb, Hopi)

"Call someone your lord and he'll sell you in the slave market." (Arabic proverb)

"Have faith and God will provide." (Corsican proverb)



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