skull and crossbones

English
WOTD – 19 September 2021

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
A skull and crossbones.
A skull and crossbones on a sign in Sri Lanka warning against landmines.
A sign for use on HAZMAT Class 6 toxic substances with a skull and crossbones.

Noun

skull and crossbones (plural skull and crossbones or skulls and crossbones)

  1. A depiction of a human skull and two crossed femurs (thighbones), a symbol of death traditionally used on the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but now as a warning of toxicity or other dangers.
    • 1832 February, “A Tale of Galway, Ireland”, in Louis Antoine Godey, editor, The Lady’s Book: A Monthly Magazine of Belles-lettres and the Arts. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: L[ouis] A[ntoine] Godey & Co. […], →OCLC, page 95, column 1:
      In an obscure corner of the town stands a house of extreme antiquity, over the door of which are still to be seen a skull and crossbones.
    • 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in Zanoni. […], volume III, London: Saunders & Otley, […], →OCLC, book the sixth (Superstition Deserting Faith), page 87:
      She stood within the chamber, and gazed around her; no signs by which an Inquisitor of old could have detected the Scholar of the Black Arts were visible. No crucibles and caldrons, no brass-bound volumes and ciphered girdles, no skulls and crossbones.
    • 1849, Herman Melville, “They Visit the Lords Piko and Hello”, in Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, page 144:
      Escorted to the sign of the Skull-and-Cross-Bones, we received the very best entertainment which that royal inn could afford.
    • 1850 June, “Letter to the Editors”, in E. W. Evans et al., editors, The Yale Literary Magazine: […], volume XV, number VII, New Haven, Conn.: T. J. Stafford [for] A. H. Maltby, →OCLC, page 273:
      Mark those bottles, my dear sirs, as housewives do corrosive sublimate or ratsbane,—with a skull and crossbones, and label them "Poison," for the effect of them upon the luckless wight who should taste their contents, would be convulsive, very.
    • 1893, Charles Isaac Elton, Mary Augusta Elton, “France: Early Bookmen—Royal Collectors”, in The Great Book-Collectors, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., page 107:
      His own taste combined the gloomy and the grotesque, his clothes and his [book] bindings alike being covered with skulls and crossbones, and spangles to represent tears, with other conventional emblems of sorrow.
    • 1924 May 24 – July 12, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Sunday Night at Mario’s”, in Bill the Conqueror: His Invasion of England in the Springtime, 10th edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1931, →OCLC, § 1, page 254:
      And this was open rebellion. This was hoisting the skull and cross-bones.
    • 1969, John Brunner, chapter IX, in Double, Double, London: Gateway, Hachette, published 2011, →ISBN:
      Overhead, the black flag with the white skull-and-crossbones symbolizing defiance of radio regulations fluttered limply atop the two-hundred-foot mast mounted on the converted coaster from which they operated.
    • 1973, Richard C. Colton, Edmund S. Ward, Charles H. Wager, Practical Handbook of Industrial Traffic Management, 5th edition, Washington: Traffic Service Corporation, →OCLC, page 579:
      When poisons are involved, red skull and crossbones are added.
    • 1994, William G. Boltz, The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System, New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, →ISBN, page 16:
      The skull and crossbones is, to be sure, a visual sign that communicates a very specific meaning.
    • 1996, “The Regiment de Tren: Transportation under Fire”, in Cary Nelson, Jefferson Hendricks, editors, Madrid 1937: Letters of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the Spanish Civil War, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2003, →ISBN, page 554:
      On the floor was a big flag whose significance I could not make out. There was a big red cross in the center and around it were two skull and crossbones and two other insignia with crossed torches, crossed scythes, and a smaller cross in the center.
    • 1998 April, Michael Flynn, “Friends in High Places”, in David G[eddes] Hartwell, editor, Rogue Star (A Tor Book), New York, N.Y.: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 144:
      Because when I saw him again, the Bird had two skull-and-crossbones stenciled on his X-ray camera.
    • 2007, Michael J. Kalsher, Michael S. Wogalter, “Warnings: Hazard Control Methods for Caregivers and Children”, in Rani Lueder, Valerie J. Berg Rice, editors, Ergonomics for Children: Designing Products and Places for Toddlers to Teens, Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, section D (Children and Product Design), page 531:
      [C]hildren who are not told otherwise may interpret the ubiquitous skull and crossbones pictograph […] to mean "pirate food" […] Parents can also play an important role by teaching their children that the skull and crossbones symbol is sometimes used to indicate poison.
    • 2011 May 1, Alice Rawsthorn, “Skull and crossbones as branding tool”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 May 2022:
      By the turn of the 18th century, when Captain [John] Cranby espied [Emanuel] Wynn's skull and crossbones, the piracy trade was flourishing and ambitious pirates were becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way they operated.
    • 2012, William E[dwin] Thompson, “Biker and Motorcyclist Values, Old and New”, in Hogs, Blogs, Leathers and Lattes: The Sociology of Modern American Motorcycling, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 60:
      These [motorcycle] helmets often resemble World War I Prussian helmets, or are modified half-helmets, usually plain black in color, or adorned with skulls and crossbones, or other intimidating symbols.
    • 2015, Jen Jones [i.e., Jennifer Lynn Jones], chapter 1, in The New Ashley (Sleepover Girls), North Mankato, Minn.: Capstone Young Readers, →ISBN:
      It was a quilted leather tote with tiny skulls-and-crossbones inside each diamond; Sirena's style was definitely impossible to miss. But the million-dollar question was: how had this girl snagged it? Everyone online was buzzing about this purse, but no one could get one.

Synonyms

skull and bones

Translations

See also

Further reading
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