cross-bencher

See also: crossbencher

English

Alternative forms

• crossbencher

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.?

Proto-Italic *kruks / *krukis

Latin cruxbor.

Old Irish crosbor.

Old Norse krossbor.

Old English cros

Middle English cross

Middle English cros-

English cross-

English bench

English cross-bench

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English cross-bencher

From cross-bench + -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɹɒsˈbɛnt͡ʃə/

Noun

cross-bencher (plural cross-benchers)

1. (politics) A member of the British House of Lords or the Senate of Canada or Australia who sits on a cross-bench, or who proclaims independence or political neutrality.
   • 2007, Bruce Ackerman, “Meritocracy v. Democracy”, in London Review of Books, volume 29, number 5, page 9:

     Putting the hereditary nobility to one side, the life peers, and especially the cross-benchers, carry on an older, less narrowly professional tradition of distinguished service: rule by the ‘great and the good’, if not necessarily the best and brightest.

Further reading

• “cross-bencher”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.