come home by weeping cross

From a common English placename indicating the former site of a stone cross.

come home by weeping cross (third-person singular simple present comes home by weeping cross, present participle coming home by weeping cross, simple past came home by weeping cross, past participle come home by weeping cross)

1. (idiomatic, dated) To return in disappointment, or in a spirit of contrition.
   • c. 1677, Thomas Manton, Several Sermons Upon the CXIX Psalm, Sermon I:

     Those that will try experiments, smart for it in the issue. Solomon came home by weeping-cross: Eccles. i. 14, 'I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.'

   • 1744, Spanish Rhodomontades, Pierre de Bourdeille, tr. John Ozell.

     This was a fine Rhodomontade, but it fail'd in the Execution: For, making an irruption into Provence, he came home by Weeping-Cross.

   • 1833, The Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. Matthew Henry, volume 2:

     He came home by weeping cross, and I believe he would not for his kingdom have repeated the sin: after which he had scarce a good day.

   • 1916, John Lyly, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit:

     But the time will come when, coming home by weeping cross, thou shalt confess that it is better to be at home in the cave of an hermit than abroad in the court of an emperor, and that a crust with quietness shall be better than quails with unrest.