preposition
- from one side to the other of: a bridge across a river.
- on or to the other side of; beyond: across the sea.
- into contact with; into the presence of, usually by accident: to come across an old friend; to run across a first edition of Byron.
- crosswise of or transversely to the length of something; athwart: coats across the bed; straddled across the boundary line.
adverb
- from one side to another.
- on the other side: We’ll soon be across.
- crosswise; transversely: with arms across.
- so as to be understood or learned: He couldn’t get the idea across to the class.
- into a desired or successful state: to put a business deal across.
adjective
- being in a crossed or transverse position; crosswise: an across pattern of supporting beams.
preposition
- from one side to the other side of
- on or at the other side of
- so as to transcend boundaries or barrierspeople united across borders by religion and history; the study of linguistics across cultures
- fully informed about; dealing withwe are across this problem
adverb
- from one side to the other
- on or to the other side
early 14c., acros, earlier a-croiz (c.1300), from Anglo-French an cros “in a crossed position,” literally “on cross” (see cross (n.)). Prepositional meaning “from one side to another” is first recorded 1590s; meaning “on the other side (as a result of crossing)” is from 1750. Phrase across the board originally is from horse-racing, in reference to a bet of the same amount of money on a horse to win, place, or show.
In addition to the idiom beginning with across
- across the board
also see:
- come across
- cut across
- get across
- put across
- run across