noughts-and-crosses

[ nawts-uhn-kraw-siz, -kros-iz ]

noun(used with a singular verb)British.

Origin of noughts-and-crosses

1
First recorded in 1890–95

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How to use noughts-and-crosses in a sentence

  • I'd back him at cat's-cradle, and I dare say he plays a very fair game at noughts-and-crosses.

    Love and Lucy | Maurice Henry Hewlett

British Dictionary definitions for noughts and crosses

noughts and crosses

noun
  1. (functioning as singular) a game in which two players, one using a nought, "O", the other a cross, "X", alternately mark one square out of nine formed by two pairs of crossed lines, the winner being the first to get three of his symbols in a row: US and Canadian term: tick-tack-toe, (US) crisscross

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012