Christcross-row

English

Alternative forms

• Christ-cross-row

Etymology

Either from the cross usually set before it, or from a superstitious custom of writing it in the form of a cross, by way of a charm. See crossrow.

Noun

Christcross-row (plural not attested)

1. (obsolete) The alphabet.
   • 1814, William Wordsworth, The Excursion:

     From infant conning of the Christ-cross-row

   • 1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter I, in Shrewsbury:

     For though I never attained to the outward flower of scholarship by proceeding to the learned degree of arts at either of the Universities, I gained the root and kernel of the matter at Bishop's Stortford, being able at the age of fourteen to write a fine hand, and read Eutropius, and Cæsar, and teach the horn-book and Christ-Cross to younger boys.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Christcross-row”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)