skull and crossbones

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See also: skull-and-crossbones

English

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WOTD – 19 September 2021

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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A skull and crossbones.
A skull and crossbones on a sign in Sri Lanka warning against landmines.
A sign for use on HAZMAT Class 6 toxic substances with a skull and crossbones.

Noun

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skull and crossbones (plural skull and crossbones or skulls and crossbones)

  1. A depiction of a human skull and two crossed femurs (thighbones), a symbol of death traditionally used on the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but now used on chemical containers and other hazardous items as an indicator of warning of toxicity or other life-threatening dangers or risks.
    • 1832 February, “A Tale of Galway, Ireland”, in Louis Antoine Godey, editor, The Lady’s Book: A Monthly Magazine of Belles-lettres and the Arts. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: L[ouis] A[ntoine] Godey & Co. […], →OCLC, page 95, column 1:
      In an obscure corner of the town stands a house of extreme antiquity, over the door of which are still to be seen a skull and crossbones.
    • 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in Zanoni. […], volume III, London: Saunders & Otley, […], →OCLC, book the sixth (Superstition Deserting Faith), page 87:
      She stood within the chamber, and gazed around her; no signs by which an Inquisitor of old could have detected the Scholar of the Black Arts were visible. No crucibles and caldrons, no brass-bound volumes and ciphered girdles, no skulls and crossbones.
    • 1849, Herman Melville, “They Visit the Lords Piko and Hello”, in Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 144:
      Escorted to the sign of the Skull-and-Cross-Bones, we received the very best entertainment which that royal inn could afford.
    • 1850 June, “Letter to the Editors”, in E. W. Evans et al., editors, The Yale Literary Magazine: […], volume XV, number VII, New Haven, Conn.: T. J. Stafford [for] A. H. Maltby, →OCLC, page 273:
      Mark those bottles, my dear sirs, as housewives do corrosive sublimate or ratsbane,—with a skull and crossbones, and label them "Poison," for the effect of them upon the luckless wight who should taste their contents, would be convulsive, very.
    • 1893, Charles Isaac Elton, Mary Augusta Elton, “France: Early Bookmen—Royal Collectors”, in The Great Book-Collectors, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., page 107:
      His own taste combined the gloomy and the grotesque, his clothes and his [book] bindings alike being covered with skulls and crossbones, and spangles to represent tears, with other conventional emblems of sorrow.
    • 1924 May 24 – July 12, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Sunday Night at Mario’s”, in Bill the Conqueror: His Invasion of England in the Springtime, 10th edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1931, →OCLC, § 1, page 254:
      And this was open rebellion. This was hoisting the skull and cross-bones.
    • 1969, John Brunner, chapter IX, in Double, Double, London: Gateway, Hachette, published 2011, →ISBN:
      Overhead, the black flag with the white skull-and-crossbones symbolizing defiance of radio regulations fluttered limply atop the two-hundred-foot mast mounted on the converted coaster from which they operated.
    • 1973, Richard C. Colton, Edmund S. Ward, Charles H. Wager, Practical Handbook of Industrial Traffic Management, 5th edition, Washington: Traffic Service Corporation, →OCLC, page 579:
      When poisons are involved, red skull and crossbones are added.
    • 1994, William G. Boltz, The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System, New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, →ISBN, page 16:
      The skull and crossbones is, to be sure, a visual sign that communicates a very specific meaning.
    • 1996, “The Regiment de Tren: Transportation under Fire”, in Cary Nelson, Jefferson Hendricks, editors, Madrid 1937: Letters of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the Spanish Civil War, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2003, →ISBN, page 554:
      On the floor was a big flag whose significance I could not make out. There was a big red cross in the center and around it were two skull and crossbones and two other insignia with crossed torches, crossed scythes, and a smaller cross in the center.
    • 1998 April, Michael Flynn, “Friends in High Places”, in David G[eddes] Hartwell, editor, Rogue Star (A Tor Book), New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 144:
      Because when I saw him again, the Bird had two skull-and-crossbones stenciled on his X-ray camera.
    • 2007, Michael J. Kalsher, Michael S. Wogalter, “Warnings: Hazard Control Methods for Caregivers and Children”, in Rani Lueder, Valerie J. Berg Rice, editors, Ergonomics for Children: Designing Products and Places for Toddlers to Teens, Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, section D (Children and Product Design), page 531:
      [C]hildren who are not told otherwise may interpret the ubiquitous skull and crossbones pictograph […] to mean "pirate food" […] Parents can also play an important role by teaching their children that the skull and crossbones symbol is sometimes used to indicate poison.
    • 2011 May 1, Alice Rawsthorn, “Skull and crossbones as branding tool”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 2022:
      By the turn of the 18th century, when Captain [John] Cranby espied [Emanuel] Wynn's skull and crossbones, the piracy trade was flourishing and ambitious pirates were becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way they operated.
    • 2012, William E[dwin] Thompson, “Biker and Motorcyclist Values, Old and New”, in Hogs, Blogs, Leathers and Lattes: The Sociology of Modern American Motorcycling, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 60:
      These [motorcycle] helmets often resemble World War I Prussian helmets, or are modified half-helmets, usually plain black in color, or adorned with skulls and crossbones, or other intimidating symbols.
    • 2015, Jen Jones [i.e., Jennifer Lynn Jones], chapter 1, in The New Ashley (Sleepover Girls), North Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Young Readers, →ISBN:
      It was a quilted leather tote with tiny skulls-and-crossbones inside each diamond; Sirena's style was definitely impossible to miss. But the million-dollar question was: how had this girl snagged it? Everyone online was buzzing about this purse, but no one could get one.

Synonyms

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skull and bones

Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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