double-cross

present singular third person double-crosses · participle present double-crossing · participle past double-crossed · past double-crossed

1. transitiveTo 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.

   1 more example

   I've been double crossed / By a double dealin', double winnin' / Looks like I'm the one who lost.

   1979, First Choice, “Double Cross”, in Hold Your Horses

   Synonyms: quisle, sell out, stab in the back, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out, cross out

2. transitivebiologyOf 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.

plural double-crosses

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.

   1985, Raymond Carney, The Films of John Cassavetes, Pragmatism, Modernism, and the Movies, page 185

2. biologyOf a breeding, the hybrid product of double-crossing.