"cross-dress" meaning in English

See cross-dress in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈkɹɔsˈdɹɛs/ [US], /ˈkɹɒsˈdɹɛs/ [US] Forms: cross-dresses [present, singular, third-person], cross-dressing [participle, present], cross-dressed [participle, past], cross-dressed [past]
Etymology: From cross- + dress. Etymology templates: {{af|en|cross-|dress}} cross- + dress Head templates: {{en-verb}} cross-dress (third-person singular simple present cross-dresses, present participle cross-dressing, simple past and past participle cross-dressed)
  1. To wear clothes typically associated with the opposite sex. Categories (topical): Crossdressing Translations (to wear clothes of the opposite sex): 扮裝 /扮装 (bànzhuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), 變裝 /变装 (biànzhuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), 異裝 /异装 (yìzhuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), 易裝 /易装 (yìzhuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), 反串 (fǎnchuàn) (note: in a theatrical performance) (Chinese Mandarin), 男裝 /男装 (nánzhuāng) (english: cross-dress as a man) (Chinese Mandarin), 女裝 /女装 (nǚzhuāng) (Chinese Mandarin), pukeutua ristiin (Finnish), trasghléas (Irish), 男装する (dansō suru) (english: cross-dress as a man) (alt: だんそうする) (Japanese), 女装する (josō suru) (english: cross-dress as a woman) (alt: じょそうする) (Japanese), przebierać się [imperfective] (Polish), переодева́ться (pereodevátʹsja) (alt: в мужчи́ну OR в же́нщину) (Russian)
    Sense id: en-cross-dress-en-verb-K4NNgFHW Disambiguation of Crossdressing: 71 29 Categories (other): English terms prefixed with cross- Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with cross-: 50 50 Disambiguation of 'to wear clothes of the opposite sex': 93 7
  2. (immunology) To display (on the surface of a dendritic cell) antigens produced by a different cell. Categories (topical): Immunology
    Sense id: en-cross-dress-en-verb-tsyGmG3y Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with cross-, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Japanese translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 12 88 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with cross-: 50 50 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 11 89 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 13 87 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 8 92 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 19 81 Disambiguation of Terms with Japanese translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 23 77 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 22 78 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 14 86 Topics: immunology, medicine, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: transvest [formal], crossdress, xdress [abbreviation] Derived forms: cross-dresser, cross-dressing

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cross-dresser"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "cross-dressing"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cross-",
        "3": "dress"
      },
      "expansion": "cross- + dress",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From cross- + dress.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cross-dresses",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cross-dress (third-person singular simple present cross-dresses, present participle cross-dressing, simple past and past participle cross-dressed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with cross-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "71 29",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Crossdressing",
          "orig": "en:Crossdressing",
          "parents": [
            "Clothing",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 December 11, Sarah Montgomery, “Plea For Tolerance”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 4:",
          "text": "The need to cross-dress is no more understood than the natural forms of differing sexual orientation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To wear clothes typically associated with the opposite sex."
      ],
      "id": "en-cross-dress-en-verb-K4NNgFHW",
      "links": [
        [
          "wear",
          "wear"
        ],
        [
          "clothes",
          "clothes"
        ],
        [
          "associate",
          "associate"
        ],
        [
          "opposite",
          "opposite"
        ],
        [
          "sex",
          "sex"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bànzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "扮裝 /扮装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "biànzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "變裝 /变装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yìzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "異裝 /异装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "yìzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "易裝 /易装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "note": "in a theatrical performance",
          "roman": "fǎnchuàn",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "反串"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "english": "cross-dress as a man",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "nánzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "男裝 /男装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "nǚzhuāng",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "女裝 /女装"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "pukeutua ristiin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "trasghléas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "alt": "だんそうする",
          "code": "ja",
          "english": "cross-dress as a man",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "dansō suru",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "男装する"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "alt": "じょそうする",
          "code": "ja",
          "english": "cross-dress as a woman",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "josō suru",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "女装する"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "przebierać się"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "alt": "в мужчи́ну OR в же́нщину",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pereodevátʹsja",
          "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
          "word": "переодева́ться"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Immunology",
          "orig": "en:Immunology",
          "parents": [
            "Medicine",
            "Biology",
            "Healthcare",
            "Sciences",
            "Health",
            "All topics",
            "Body",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 88",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms prefixed with cross-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 87",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 November 1, Brian P. Dolan et al., “Dendritic Cells Cross-Dressed with Peptide MHC Class I Complexes Prime CD8+ T Cells”, in Journal of Immunology, volume 177, number 9, →DOI, pages 6018–6024:",
          "text": "Such DC are cross-dressed because they are wearing peptide-MHC complexes generated by other cells.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To display (on the surface of a dendritic cell) antigens produced by a different cell."
      ],
      "id": "en-cross-dress-en-verb-tsyGmG3y",
      "links": [
        [
          "immunology",
          "immunology"
        ],
        [
          "display",
          "display"
        ],
        [
          "surface",
          "surface"
        ],
        [
          "dendritic cell",
          "dendritic cell"
        ],
        [
          "antigens",
          "antigens"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(immunology) To display (on the surface of a dendritic cell) antigens produced by a different cell."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "immunology",
        "medicine",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɹɔsˈdɹɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɹɒsˈdɹɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "formal"
      ],
      "word": "transvest"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "crossdress"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation"
      ],
      "word": "xdress"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cross-dress"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms prefixed with cross-",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Irish translations",
    "Terms with Japanese translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:Crossdressing"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "cross-dresser"
    },
    {
      "word": "cross-dressing"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cross-",
        "3": "dress"
      },
      "expansion": "cross- + dress",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From cross- + dress.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cross-dresses",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cross-dressed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "cross-dress (third-person singular simple present cross-dresses, present participle cross-dressing, simple past and past participle cross-dressed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976 December 11, Sarah Montgomery, “Plea For Tolerance”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 4:",
          "text": "The need to cross-dress is no more understood than the natural forms of differing sexual orientation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To wear clothes typically associated with the opposite sex."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "wear",
          "wear"
        ],
        [
          "clothes",
          "clothes"
        ],
        [
          "associate",
          "associate"
        ],
        [
          "opposite",
          "opposite"
        ],
        [
          "sex",
          "sex"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Immunology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2006 November 1, Brian P. Dolan et al., “Dendritic Cells Cross-Dressed with Peptide MHC Class I Complexes Prime CD8+ T Cells”, in Journal of Immunology, volume 177, number 9, →DOI, pages 6018–6024:",
          "text": "Such DC are cross-dressed because they are wearing peptide-MHC complexes generated by other cells.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To display (on the surface of a dendritic cell) antigens produced by a different cell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "immunology",
          "immunology"
        ],
        [
          "display",
          "display"
        ],
        [
          "surface",
          "surface"
        ],
        [
          "dendritic cell",
          "dendritic cell"
        ],
        [
          "antigens",
          "antigens"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(immunology) To display (on the surface of a dendritic cell) antigens produced by a different cell."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "immunology",
        "medicine",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɹɔsˈdɹɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɹɒsˈdɹɛs/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "formal"
      ],
      "word": "transvest"
    },
    {
      "word": "crossdress"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation"
      ],
      "word": "xdress"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bànzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "扮裝 /扮装"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "biànzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "變裝 /变装"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yìzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "異裝 /异装"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "yìzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "易裝 /易装"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "note": "in a theatrical performance",
      "roman": "fǎnchuàn",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "反串"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "english": "cross-dress as a man",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "nánzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "男裝 /男装"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "nǚzhuāng",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "女裝 /女装"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "pukeutua ristiin"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "trasghléas"
    },
    {
      "alt": "だんそうする",
      "code": "ja",
      "english": "cross-dress as a man",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "dansō suru",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "男装する"
    },
    {
      "alt": "じょそうする",
      "code": "ja",
      "english": "cross-dress as a woman",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "josō suru",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "女装する"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "przebierać się"
    },
    {
      "alt": "в мужчи́ну OR в же́нщину",
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pereodevátʹsja",
      "sense": "to wear clothes of the opposite sex",
      "word": "переодева́ться"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cross-dress"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cross-dress meaning in English (4.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (0c0c1f1 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.