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• noughts-and-crosses
  noughts-and-crosses

  noun

  tick-tack-toe.
• noughts and crosses
  noughts and crosses

  noun

  (functioning as singular) a game in which two players, one using a nought, "O", the other a cross, "X", alternately mark one square out of nine formed by two pairs of crossed lines, the winner being the first to get three of his symbols in a row

noughts-and-crosses

American  

[nawts-uhn-kraw-siz, -kros-iz] / ˈnɔts ənˈkrɔ sɪz, -ˈkrɒs ɪz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. tick-tack-toe.

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noughts and crosses British  

noun

1. US and Canadian term: tick-tack-toe.   crisscross.  (functioning as singular) a game in which two players, one using a nought, "O", the other a cross, "X", alternately mark one square out of nine formed by two pairs of crossed lines, the winner being the first to get three of his symbols in a row

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Etymology

Origin of noughts-and-crosses

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

noughts-and-crosses noughts and crosses

I'd back him at cat's-cradle, and I dare say he plays a very fair game at noughts-and-crosses.

From Love and Lucy by Hewlett, Maurice Henry

True, noughts-and-crosses might be indulged in on flyleaves of prayer-books while the Litany dragged its slow length along; but what balm or what solace could be found for the Sermon?

From The Golden Age by Grahame, Kenneth

Earlier, she took on Dame Kelly at a game of bean-bag noughts and crosses.

From BBC ● May 16, 2023

One complained that children had used the forms to play noughts and crosses.

From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2022

He said the first programs he intended to run on his mega processor were likely to be Tetris, noughts and crosses and 1970s evolutionary simulation Life by mathematician John Conway.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2015

Someone has drawn a noughts and crosses board in the dusty screen of an old video game, Ideal Twinline, and underneath, the words, "How about a nice game of chess?"

From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2011

He had an extremely careless and frivolous expression all the while, as though he were not working, but playing at noughts and crosses.

From The Wife, and other stories by Garnett, Constance