Now only in Zool. and Bot. [ad. med. or mod.L. cruciāt-us, f. crux, crucem cross: see -ATE.] Formed like a cross, cross-shaped; arranged in the form of a cross.

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1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), III. xxxv. 539. In numbers of Locusta the prothorax is what Linné terms cruciate.

2

1835.  Lindley, Introd. Bot. (1848), I. 335. The cruciate flower has four valvaceous sepals, four petals, and six stamens.

3

1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 132. Chrysosplenium … Capsule … opening at the top by a cruciate mouth.

4

  † b.  as sb. = CRUCIAL incision. Obs.

5

1684.  trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., III. 81. He made a Cruciate … three inches every way.

6

  c.  in Comb. = CRUCIATO-, as cruciate-complicate.

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