喜樂美語
  1. 1出賣（同夥）、反水、陰人

    To double-cross someone is to cheat them after they thought you were on the same side. The extra sting is this: you had already agreed to do something together — often something a bit shady — and then you turn around and cheat that partner. So you are not only breaking a normal promise; you are the person in the plan with you. People also stretch it to any big sell-out: a friend who tells on you, a teammate who secretly helps the other side. It is informal, a bit dramatic, and very at home in crime stories and spy films, though everyday talk uses it too when someone feels stabbed in the back. As a noun, a double-cross is the act itself: “It was a double-cross.” The old thieves’ slang helps: on the cross meant dishonest (the opposite of straight or square). A crook who then cheats his own crooked partners is crossing the crossers — a double-cross. First recorded in that world in 1834.

    double-cross someone 的意思是在對方以為你站同一邊時出賣對方。它的特別之處在於，你們原本已經約好一起做事，然後你卻背叛夥伴，所以比一般的失信更傷人。這個詞也可以用來形容朋友告密之類的背叛。它語氣口語、有點戲劇化，常見於犯罪片和間諜片。作名詞時，它指背叛的行為本身，例如「It was a double-cross.」。

From the word’s history

First recorded 1834, from thieves' slang cross 'something dishonest': crossing the crossers.

1834 年首見，源自小偷黑話 cross「不誠實的勾當」。

Wiktionary

組成Built from double + cross. In 1800s thieves’ slang, cross (or on the cross) meant dishonest, playing against straight / square. A crook who goes back on his partners is therefore crossing the crossers — double-crossing. Verb and noun both from 1834.

同家族的字

  • crossold slang: on the cross meant dishonest; to cross someone still means to betray them
  • double-crosserthe person who does the double-cross

原始詞典資料4 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

double-crossverb

  • 1

    To betray or go back on; to deceive someone after having gained their trust and led them to believe that they were being aided.

    • If you double-cross us, we'll track you down and kill you.
    • I've been double crossed / By a double dealin', double winnin' / Looks like I'm the one who lost.
  • 2

    biologybotanygeneticsOf breeding, to cross twice in hybridization, as (A × B) × (C × D); for example, in commercial hybrid seed corn, A through D are classically inbreds, and their grandoffspring is the seed for sale.

double-crossnoun

  • 1

    An act or instance of deliberate betrayal or deceit, especially in which one party violates a prior agreement or trust with a collaborator.

    • The only problem is that Cosmo accidentally double-crosses the double-cross: By sheer luck he succeeds at the murder and gets away, which leaves the mob in the uncomfortable position of having to do the dirty work of rubbing him out themselves.
  • 2

    biologybotanygeneticsOf a breeding, the hybrid product of double-crossing.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。