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Glite Dictionary
to cross one's leg

to cross one's leg

14 2.3
To sit with one leg over the other
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : cruzar las piernas
  • "I offered him the summary," she said, crossing her legs and flipping open a spiral notebook.
  • cross and uncross her legs
  • crossed his legs at the ankle
  • cross your left leg

Examples

  • In order to sit comfortably during the meeting, she decided to cross her legs while listening to the presentation.

  • " Lily raised her eyebrows, skeptical but not disbelieving, and crossed her legs to sit more comfortably.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Mother settled back in her chair and crossed her narrow brown legs.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I sat there for a long time, crossing and uncrossing my legs.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Starr sat down on a trunk and crossed one leg over the other.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • "Valerian leaned back in the chair, crossing one long leg over the other before giving her his answer."

    Fiction book (1991)

  • "What's wrong, Wyatt?" she said, crossing her legs and letting the top shin touch his knee.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • "Uncle Denny?" Gideon leaned back, crossing one well-tailored leg over the other.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • " Meredith eased down onto the sofa and crossed her jean-clad legs comfortably.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • He often crosses his legs when he sits on the couch to make himself more comfortable.

Synonyms

to cross
vsto cross one's leg
159 1.8

To put one body part over another, for example legs

refers specifically to placing one limb over the other while sitting

Antonyms

to uncross
7 4.1

Move a body part or two things from a crossed position to an open position

How Urgent

pee-pee dance
  • Baby Talk
1 9.9
to cross one's leg
14 2.3
to fidget
26 3.4
shift
363 3.5

Surface Forms

cross one's leg infinitive
crossed one's leg past
crossed one's leg past participle
crossing one's leg present participle
crosses one's leg third person singular

Morphology

cross + one + leg

The meaning 'to place one leg over the other while sitting' is directly and literally built from 'cross' (to fold or make intersect) + 'one's leg' (a person's leg), so the image and action are immediately derivable. This is a common, cross-linguistic bodily-action construction using a possessive and a verb, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Cross one's leg comes from the simple action of moving one leg over the other so the legs cross when you sit. That's why it means 'to place one leg over the other while sitting'.