Scientists and engineers have buttoned their lip, and crossed their fingers that the reckoning wouldn't come in their own day.A memo said that doctors were told 'with crossed fingers' that the company was doing safety studies.This will pass, I told myself, crossing my fingers everything passes.People vote, cross their fingers, and hope for the best.At this point, they can only stand back, cross their fingers and hope for fireworks.As the others crossed their fingers and held their breath, he gently eased away the back plate.Jessica skipped and prayed and crossed her fingers.Careta held up a hand and crossed his fingers.Always ready to knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, bite my tongue, cross my fingers.Will you keep your fingers crossed for me? → cross Examples from the Corpus cross your fingers If later challenged on breaking this promise, Janet would say 'I had my fingers crossed.From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English cross your fingers cross your fingers used to say that you hope something will happen in the way you want She hung the washing out, then crossed her fingers for a dry day. Her crossed fingers are meant to protect her from the consequences of breaking a promise. (Janet knows she might not fulfil this promise. 'I promise I will pay you back on Monday,' Janet said with crossed fingers behind her back.If later accused of lying, Janet would say 'I had my fingers crossed.') Her crossed fingers are meant to protect her from the consequences of lying. 'I did not take the last biscuit,' Janet said with crossed fingers behind her back.The gesture of crossing your fingers is used to negate a promise or a lie. To avoid persecution, early Christians used this gesture as a way of acknowledging each other secretly. Over time, this gesture evolved to people summoning good luck for themselves by creating their own cross on one hand. To create good luck for someone, a pagan would use their index finger to form a cross with the index finger of the other person. The physical gesture of crossing your fingers comes from the pagan belief that a cross was a symbol of good luck. In other words, the cross does not refer to the cross of Jesus. This idiom originates from before Christianity. Keep your fingers crossed that you're on the list. The promotions are being announced this afternoon.Cross your fingers that the weather stays good.

This mountain pass can be dangerous in the rain.

Cross fingers means