Double-cross

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An instance of betrayal of one who had been led to believe that the betrayer was assisting them.
  2. 2
    The hybrid product of double-crossing.
Verb
  1. 1
    To betray or go back on; to deceive someone after having gained their trust and led them to believe that they were being aided.

    "If you double-cross us, we'll track you down and kill you."

  2. 2
    To cross twice in hybridization, as (A × B) × (C × D); for example, in commercial hybrid seed corn, A through D are classically inbreds, and their grandoffspring is the seed for sale.

Synonyms

All synonyms
assfuckbamboozlebeguilebetraybitchbluff

Example

More examples

"In the underground, to double-cross any member means sure death."

Etymology

First recorded in 1834 from thieves' slang cross (or on the cross) to refer to something dishonest, a play on straight/square: a crook going back on his partners would therefore be crossing the crossers, or double-crossing.

Related phrases

double-crosser

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.