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Cross and Ball so universally marked on Egyptian figures, is a circle and the letter T. The circle signifies
the eternal preserver of the world, and the T is the monogram of Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, meaning
wisdom. Cross and Pile Money; pitch and toss. Hilaire le Gai tells us that some of the ancient French coins had
a cross, and others a column, on the reverse; the column was called a pile, from which comes our word
pillar, and the phrase pile-driving. Scaliger says that some of the old French coins had a ship on the
reverse, the arms of Paris, and that pile means a ship, whence our word pilot. A man may now justifiably throw up cross and pile for his opinions. - Locke: Human Understanding.Cross or pile. Heads or tails. The French say pile ou face. The face or cross was the obverse of the coin, the pile was the reverse; but at a later period the cross was transferred to the reverse, as in our florins, and the obverse bore a head or poll. Marriage is worse than cross I win, pile you lose. Shadwell: Epsom Wells.Cross nor pile. I have neither cross nor pile. Not a penny in the world. The French phrase is, N'avoir ni croix ni pile (to have neither one sort of coin nor another). Whacum had neither cross nor pile. Butler: Hudibras, part ii. 3. |
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