cross hairs

British

plural noun

Also called: cross wires. two fine mutually perpendicular lines or wires that cross in the focal plane of a theodolite, gunsight, or other optical instrument and are used to define the line of sight

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Musk’s relationship with Trump wasn’t the only one in Kimmel’s cross hairs Thursday.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2024

“I’ve had Scott Perry in my cross hairs from the moment I announced my candidacy last October,” she said in an interview.

From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2024

They are expected to argue that before he fell into investigators’ cross hairs, there was little evidence he was slipping mentally.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2023

Even in late spring, Bakhmut was a town on the front line, in the cross hairs of Russia’s advance in the Donbas region.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2023

On looking through it at the end of this interval, the cross hairs were found projected against the white side of the pyramid; the whole mass having moved several inches downwards.

From The Glaciers of the Alps Being a narrative of excursions and ascents, etc. by Tyndall, John

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023