Idiom
come home by weeping cross
Meaning
To return in disappointment, or in a spirit of contrition.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He went to the city but came home by weeping cross.”
“After his ambitious business venture failed completely, he had to come home by weeping cross to face his family.”
“The young soldier, having ignored his father's wise counsel and suffered a bitter defeat, returned to the village to come home by weeping cross.”
Examples
simple
“He went to the city but came home by weeping cross.”
contextual
“After his ambitious business venture failed completely, he had to come home by weeping cross to face his family.”
complex
“The young soldier, having ignored his father's wise counsel and suffered a bitter defeat, returned to the village to come home by weeping cross.”
Origin
The idiom is derived from a common English placename, used to denote the former site of a stone cross. Such locations were once widespread across the landscape, marking the intersection of roads or parish boundaries.
Key words
Related idioms
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