What is "to cross a check"

Cross \Cross\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crossed (kr[o^]st; 115); p. pr. & vb. n. Crossing.]

1. To put across or athwart; to cause to intersect; as, to cross the arms.

2. To lay or draw something, as a line, across; as, to cross the letter t.

3. To pass from one side to the other of; to pass or move over; to traverse; as, to cross a stream.

   A hunted hare . . . crosses and confounds her former track. -- I. Watts.

4. To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time. ``Your kind letter crossed mine.''
   --J. D. Forbes.

5. To run counter to; to thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to clash or interfere with.

   In each thing give him way; cross him in nothing.
   --Shak.

   An oyster may be crossed in love. -- Sheridan.

6. To interfere and cut off; to debar. [Obs.]

   To cross me from the golden time I look for.
   --Shak.

7. To make the sign of the cross upon; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun; as, he crossed himself.

8. To cancel by marking crosses on or over, or drawing a line across; to erase; -- usually with out, off, or over; as, to cross out a name.

9. To cause to interbreed; -- said of different stocks or races; to mix the breed of.

   To cross a check (Eng. Banking), to draw two parallel transverse lines across the face of a check, with or without adding between them the words ``and company'', with or without the words ``not negotiable'', or to draw the transverse lines simply, with or without the words ``not negotiable'' (the check in any of these cases being crossed generally). Also, to write or print across the face of a check the name of a banker, with or without the words ``not negotiable'' (the check being then crossed specially). A check crossed generally is payable only when presented through a bank; one crossed specially, only when presented through the bank mentioned. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   To cross one's path, to oppose one's plans.
   --Macaulay.