Sign-of-the-cross definition

An outline of a cross made symbolically by a movement of the hand or fingers.
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In Christianity, a sign made by tracing the outline of a cross with the right hand as a devotional act or to invoke a blessing.
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A short Trinitarian prayer recited while performing this movement, beginning with the words “In the name of the Father”
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(Christianity) A gesture of the hand moving over the front of one's body in the shape of a cross made as part of ritual or to invoke divine protection.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
sign-of-the-cross
Plural:
signs of the cross

Origin of sign-of-the-cross

  • A calque translation of Latin signum crucis

    From Wiktionary

Sign-of-the-cross Sentence Examples

  • Restrictions in church-building, in dress, in the use of beasts of burden, in social intercourse with Moslems, and in the use of bells and of the sign of the cross were enforced..

  • So in Christian initiations the sign of the cross is made on the brow, and in Revelation the redeemed are so marked.

  • They venerate pictures or images, and make the sign of the cross with one finger to show that Christ had but one nature.

  • In some parts of Europe it is still considered more efficacious than making the sign of the cross.

  • Princess Mary, supporting her sister-in-law, still looked with her beautiful eyes full of tears at the door through which Prince Andrew had gone and made the sign of the cross in his direction.

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Words near sign-of-the-cross in the Dictionary