Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Arranged in or forming a cross; cruciform.
  • adjective Overlapping or crossing, as the wings of some insects when at rest.
  • adjective Shaped like a cross.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To torture; torment; afflict with extreme pain or distress; excruciate.
  • noun An obsolete form of crusade.
  • Tormented; excruciated.
  • In botany, having the form of a cross with equal arms, as the flowers of mustard, etc.; cruciform: applied also to tetraspores of red marine algæ. See tetraspore.
  • In zöol., crucial or cruciform; crossed or cross-shaped; specifically, in entomology, crossing each other diagonally in repose, as the wings of many hymenopterous insects and the hemelytra of the Heteroptera.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To torture; to torment. [Obs.] See excruciate.
  • adjective obsolete Tormented.
  • adjective (Bot.) Having the leaves or petals arranged in the form of a cross; cruciform.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective In the form of a cross; cruciform.
  • adjective Overlapping or crossing.
  • verb obsolete To torture; to torment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective shaped like a cross

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin cruciātus, from Latin crux, cruc-, cross.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin cruciatus.

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Examples

  • Italian captain Parisse, currently sidelined with a long term cruciate knee ligament injury, is widely regarded as the best player in Italian rugby and has become an inspiration figure within Nick Mallett's national setup in recent times.

    iac world news feed 2010

  • Carlisle, who admits he has been an "addict" of the show since childhood, had previously failed an audition during a long-term cruciate ligament injury lay-off from January 2001 to September 2002.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2010

  • They are called cruciate because they cross each other somewhat like the lines of the letter X; and have received the names anterior and posterior, from the position of their attachments to the tibia.

    III. Syndesmology. 7b. The Knee-joint 1918

  • 'Everybody knows the cruciate is a bad injury but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be.'

    Official Everton Football Club News Feed 2010

  • "Everybody knows the cruciate is a bad injury but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be."

    TEAMtalk Football News 2010

  • "Everybody knows the cruciate is a bad injury but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be."

    TEAMtalk Football News 2010

  • "Everybody knows the cruciate is a bad injury but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be."

    TEAMtalk Football News 2010

  • "Everybody knows the cruciate is a bad injury but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be."

    TEAMtalk Football News 2010

  • But when Bullard went down at West Ham he ruptured his cruciate which is a completely coincidental injury.

    Arsenal FC News Feed 2009

  • What is so ludicrous in the case from last Wednesday was that not only was the person that the police did this too a Premiership footballer, but he was on crutches having undergone a major operation after suffering cruciate ligament damage in the Everton match against Newcastle some weeks ago and the police tried to take his crutches away from him.

    Are Cheshire Police "institutionally racist" Norfolk Blogger 2009

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