Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cross someone's t

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.21 in modern English

Syllables: cross -some-one's t
IPA

18

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To sail one's battle line across the front of the enemy battle line, allowing one to bring one's full firepower to bear on the enemy battle line while limiting the firepower that the enemy can use in return.

Example Sentences

"No sooner has the fleet settled onto this course than a small group of Japanese cruisers and actual, real, live, all-singing, all-dancing, all-features-included, protected-by-the-Emperor torpedo boats begin to move to cross the T of the Russian fleet. Worried about a torpedo attack on his lead battleships and determined to sweep this small formation aside, Rozhestvensky orders his main ships into a line abreast, a far-more-potent display of force that allows every forward-pointing gun on his capital ships to bear at the same time."

Etymology

From the shape formed by the opposing battle lines, which resembles a capital letter T.

Inflected Forms

crosses someone's T (present, singular) crossing someone's T (participle, present) crossed someone's T (participle, past) crossed someone's T (past)

Phrases

dot the i's and cross the t's

Frequently Paired Words

dot the i's and cross the t's

Questions

What does cross someone's t mean?: To sail one's battle line across the front of the enemy battle line, allowing one to bring one's full firepower to bear on the enemy battle line while limiting the firepower that the enemy can use in return.
Where does cross someone's t come from?: From the shape formed by the opposing battle lines, which resembles a capital letter T.

How to pronounce cross someone's t

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