资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Cross-purpose \Cross"-pur`pose\ (-p?r`p?s), n.
   1. A counter or opposing purpose; hence, that which is
      inconsistent or contradictory. --Shaftesbury.

   2. pl. A conversational game, in which questions and answers
      are made so as to involve ludicrous combinations of ideas.
      --Pepys.

   {To be at cross-purposes}, to misunderstand or to act counter
      to one another without intending it; -- said of persons.