X IN PRINT AND PROVERB
1. (in literature) In Rootabaga Stories, Carl Sandburg tells how the letter X was invented by āthe men who change the alphabets.ā In three separate stories, these men create the X to represent crossed fingers, wildcat claws, and crossed arms.
2. (in literature) In Joseph Conradās Secret Agent, Professor X is an anarchist who fastens explosives to himself so that he can kill himself and anyone nearby at the touch of a button.
3. (in literature) The Man Who Broke Out of the Letter X is a 1984 novel by Robert Priest.
4. (in literature) As a sociable letter: āThe letter X is equally sociable [to O], because it too neighbors most of the letter, and avoids only 8 of them.āāSimon Singh, The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
5. (in literature) As a harsh letter: āHe is, as I see it and in my opinion, Amiable, Benevolent, Courteous, Dignified, Enamored, Firm, Gallant, Honorable, Illustrious, Loyal, Manly, Noble, Openhearted, Pleasing, Quick-witted, Rich, the Ss that everybody knows, and then Truthful, Valiant, X isnāt included because itās a harsh letter, Y is the same I, and Z is Zealous in protecting your honor.āāMiguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
6. (in literature) āX is Davyās publichouse in upper Leeson street.āāJames Joyce, Ulysses
7. (in literature) the main character in Composition No. 1: A Novel, by Marc Saporta. āāThe apartment door opens on a long slender figure in a black hat.ā X visiting Marianne, who says āMy nose is my despair. I wish it were shorter.ā X thinks: āHow to keep from telling herā¦that she is wonderfully desirable?āā (from the reading notes by Nick Montfort).
8. (in literature) As a fatal letter: āMost cultural and linguistic investments in the letter x carry the grain of something inherently fatal.āāMarina Roy, Sign After the X
9. (in literature) āX is crossed swords, a battle: who will win we do not know, so the mystics made it the sign of destiny and the algebraists the sign of the unknown.āāVictor Hugo, quoted in ABZ by Mel Gooding
10. n. Distance between top and bottom of a printed letter without an ascender or descender.
11. n. A final judgment day taught by the Church of the SubGenius in the book Revelation X, in which alien saucers arrive on earth to initiate the end times (also known as āthe Ruptureā). What happens when X-Day comes and goes, and the saucers havenāt shown?āMitchell Porter
12. n. A written representation of the letter.
13. n. A device, such as a printerās type, for reproducing the letter.
CARDS, LIQUOR, ADULT MOVIES
14. n. A playing card of low rank.
15. adj. (obsolete) A motion picture rating prohibiting admittance of anyone under 17 years old. (See G, R.)[T]he R-rated brotherly chat for which heād detoured through Seattle was in danger of being preempted by Everettās conflicting role in an eventually to be X-rated performance with the Sad Abdomen Lady!āDavid James Duncan, The Brothers K
16. adj. Strength of ale (X being weakest, XXX being strongest).
Florence MacCabe takes a crubeen and a bottle of double X for supper every Saturday.āJames Joyce, Ulysses
ON PARCHMENT PAPER
17. n. A kiss, put at the end of a personal letter. You can count the Xs as kisses.āJulian Barnes, Staring at the Sun
18. n. A signature, such as an illiterate personās. The town I was born in was made by a crossing of tracks. A rare and momentous event, this intersection, for those two tracks had passed over mile after mile of prairie as if the earth they lay on were space through which they were fallingātwo lives, two histories, two kinds of lonelinessāwith no idea they were converging, and must cross; yet in the moment of their meeting they were silent, for what did they compose then but an illiterateās X?āWilliam H. Gass, The Tunnel
19. n. A precise point on a map or diagram, as in āX marks the spot.ā X marks the place where victims fall / as well as buried treasure.āRebecca McClanahan, āXā
20. n. Incorrect answer (as on a test); mistake.
21. v. To cross out.
I passed through the month the way people X out days on a calendar, one after the one.āHaruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase
22. v. To mark with an X.
Jane is the fourth from the left (an X over her head shows which she is, otherwise hard to recognise her).āGeorges Perec, Life: A Userās Manual
23. v. To indicate a choice (as on a ballot).
24. n. An indication of where to sign oneās name. āSign there,ā he says, his dirty finger on the red X.āEdward Abbey, The Foolās Progress
CHRIS CROSS
25. n. Crossed swords.
X signifies crossed swords, combatāwho will be victor? Nobody knowsāthat is why philosophers used x to signify fate, and the mathematicians took it for the unknown.āVictor Hugo, Voyages and Excursions
26. n. Christ, as in Xmas, or Xian.
27. n. The word Chris.
28. n. Something arbitrarily designated X.
Everyone wants a consoling myth. And the consolation either takes the form of an assurance that X, whatever it was when, like every dog, it had its day, was singular, solitary, and unique, and that nothing like it could possibly happen...