Dictionary

cross-bencher en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌkɹɒsˈbɛnt͡ʃə/

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.

Meanings

1. 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.
   • 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. 2007, Bruce Ackerman, “Meritocracy v. Democracy”, in London Review of Books, volume 29, number 5, page 9:

Forms