Talk:across

Crossword puzzles

Crossword puzzles were, I believe, originally called cross-word puzzles, making it clear that they were constructed from words crossing each other. The designations "down" and "across" very clearly come from the directions in which the words run, especially since "across the page" in reference to words is understood to mean "from left to right" (in English, at least).

I've removed the existing clause rather than replace it with this trivial etymology.

Thanks, however, for adding the crossword sense. This sort of filling in missing pieces is what Wiktionary is all about

-dmh 20:44, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)

"Acrost"

Where is the pronunciation "acrost" used? I heard the BBC's Owen Bennett-Jones use it. 88.186.166.62 11:14, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

RFV discussion: November 2016–May 2017

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process (permalink).

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

---

across

Preposition sense 3:

(Southern US, African-American Vernacular)  On the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).

I don't understand how this differs from the standard English usage covered by other senses, and the citations, which also seem to me like ordinary standard English, do not explain it. I am listing it here in case anyone else sees something that I do not. Mihia (talk) 20:24, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

For me, "I parked across the entrance" would mean my car was blocking the entrance. If I had been the one speaking in the 1995 quote, I would have said "I parked across from the entrance". As for the 1994 quote, I'm not sure what it means, but for me "parked across the mall" would have to mean the car was parked inside the mall and was so long that it stretched from one end of the mall to the other. If the quote means "parked across from the mall", then we could say "across" in this dialect means "across from". —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 21:18, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Oh, OK, I thought it did mean that the car was blocking the entrance. If it's supposed to mean "across from the entrance" then I agree it is not a standard English sense. I interpreted "parked across the mall" analogously to "parked across the street", i.e. as parked on the other side of the mall. I wonder if it might be possible to come up with usage examples that more clearly show how this sense is distinct from the others -- examples that can't be interpreted in multiple ways. If it does actually mean "across from" then that would also be useful to mention in the definition, I think. Mihia (talk) 21:49, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Hmm, I guess you're right, "parked across the mall" can also mean parked on the other side of the mall. And maybe the 1995 quote does mean "blocking the entrance". In both cases I feel like we don't have enough information about the parking situation to judge whether this is a dialectal usage of across or the standard one. —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 22:24, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

A few minutes ago I happened to encounter a use of across in a book I'm reading that might support this sense. It's by an Indian writer but takes place in Guyana and seems to use some Guyanese slang.

• 2011, Rahul Bhattacharya, The Sly Company of People who Care, page 17:

  Across the port health officer I took a seat without being asked and pondered things with indecent laze.

—Granger (talk · contribs) 21:27, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Hmmm, I don't know whether I somehow misread or misunderstood the definition first time round, but of course it does actually read "On the opposite side [...] from (a point of interest).", so it seems Angr must be right. Ideally I would like to see an example like:

Across [= Across from] the port health officer, ...

That way it will be clear to readers. Mihia (talk) 18:10, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

Another issue is that it's difficult to know, in any one citation, whether the omission of "from" is intentional or a mistake. Recall how difficult it was to cite they as an intentional determiner, in light of how it occurs as an error for the (look at Kiwima's citations on Talk:they#RFV). If the same author or Usenet poster used "across" in this way repeatedly, that would be suggestive that the use was intentional. Or if the authors used "across" only once but didn't also use "across from", and if they could be confirmed to be speakers of Southern / AAVE, that would be suggestive. Whereas, if the same dialect-speakin' character that uses "across" goes on to use "across from", it suggests the bare "across" might be an error. It would help if a reference on these dialects mentioned this usage; that would support the idea that authors who used it were using it intentionally and with the meaning claimed, rather than making a "typo" of sorts or using a different (ordinary) meaning as discussed above. Does DARE include this; does the OED? - -sche (discuss) 03:41, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

• It's now cited. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 18:10, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 20:50, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

• point of interest is a poor choice of words for several of the definitions. Perhaps place or location. Perhaps “across”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. can suggest other wording. DCDuring (talk) 23:16, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

  Perhaps you can fix it yourself, because it's a wiki. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:20, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

adverb: measured in width

adverb: as measured from one side of something to the other
about an inch across
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009

--Backinstadiums (talk) 10:08, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Adjective: being in a crossed position

Seated [[with arms across]] --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:38, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Adverb: into a desired or successful state (vs idiom put across

To put a business deal across. --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:02, 31 January 2021 (UTC)