The Collaborative International Dictionary
cross-examination \cross"-ex*am`i*na"tion\ (kr?s"?gz-?m`?-n?"sh?n; 115), n. (Law) The interrogating or questioning of a witness by the party against whom he has been called and examined. See Examination.
2. [fig.] close or detailed questioning.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
also cross examination; 1827, "an examination of a witness by the other side, to 'check' the effects of previous questioning," from cross (adj.) + examination. Related: Cross-examine (1660s).
Wiktionary
alt. (context legal English) The interrogating or questioning of a witness by the party against whom he or she has been called and examined. See examination. n. (context legal English) The interrogating or questioning of a witness by the party against whom he or she has been called and examined. See examination.
WordNet
n. (law) close questioning of a hostile witness in a court of law to discredit or throw a new light on the testimony already provided in direct examination
Wikipedia
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and may be followed by a redirect ( re-examination in England, Scotland, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, Hong Kong, and Pakistan).
Usage examples of "cross-examination".
Although there was absolutely no foundation for the accusation, she, together with other prominent Anarchists, was arrested in Chicago, kept in confinement for several weeks, and subjected to severest cross-examination.
Birmingham and Mackeson assured her that the statements she had already given to deputies Dick Bobbitt and Kevin Larkin were more than adequate and it would be wiser not to take the witness stand, where she would be subject to cross-examination by the prosecution.
I saw the Prestcold mouth open for another piece of snappy repartee, and forstalled him by rapidly re-starting the cross-examination.
The briefing, with its information and cross-examination, leavened by badinage, rolled on.
Judge Bua granted the motion of the government to prevent cross-examination on that point, and Zenner's offensive fizzled.
Judge Bua granted the motion of the government to prevent cross-examination on that point, and Zenner's offensive fizzled.
You put on an exhibition of your cunning at cross-examination in an effort to infer that she has tried to blackmail Lord Clivers, though he has had various opportunities to make such an accusation and has not done so.
Though she had remained calm and unshakable in the face of the most rigorous and aggressive cross-examination, she was exhausted by it, and haunted by a sense of culpability, of having driven Lothar to that desperate criminal folly, and now guilty of heading the pack that was pulling him down and would soon rend him with all the vindictiveness that the law allowed.
In view of the testimony that has been introduced on the direct examination of this witness concerning the ringing of a bell in the apartment, I believe that it is within the legitimate bounds of cross-examination to ask this witness concerning any bell which was in the apartment, and to let her listen to it for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is the bell in question or not.
He cannot go beyond the scope of legitimate cross-examination and ask questions about matters which were not covered in my direct examination.
This followed his admission under cross-examination that he'd been under great pressure to make good lost time due to an engine failure in the Bay of Biscay, an implication which the company's counsel had flatly denied.
If you remove from your mind the extraneous details of the testimony and the cross-examination and consider only the facts which relate to the accused and to the charges brought against him, then what remains is this: The first platoon of Alpha Company entered a building which two eyewitnesses describe as a hospital.
Third, you may make a statement under oath and subject to cross-examination by the trial judge advocate.
Mr Pearce, who leads for the prosecution, is shrewd and clever, brilliant at cross-examination, much given to insulting witnesses so that they may lose their temper, conversant with every legal quirk and turn, a very quick-witted plausible scrub.
Miller derived a certain sense of security from carrying them, but he knew that a detailed cross-examination about his maternal uncles or the colour of Doctor Lebayon's beard would scupper him, quick.