crosshair

Etymology

cross + hair

noun

1. Reticle.
   I'm just a crosshair / I'm just a shot away from you 2004, Franz Ferdinand (band) (lyrics and music), “Take Me Out”, in Franz Ferdinand

verb

1. To focus on within a reticle.
   Watching hopefully for a buck to come along behind the does, I eyed them through the scope of the borrowed .243. From time to time, I crosshaired the vital areas . 1970, Nebraskaland - Volume 48, Issues 8-49, page 21
   The next moment it was crosshaired by the electronic sights . 1979, Soviet Military Review, page 24
   That's when Dad noticed one of P. V.'s deputies standing behind a truck about a hundred feet away, crosshairing a rifle straight at him. 2011, Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, No Hill for a Stepper, page 234
   A red glowing reticle crosshaired whatever the laser's muzzle was pointed at, together with flickering numbers giving range, bearing, and probable targetID. 2014, Ian Douglas, The Complete Legacy Trilogy
2. (by extension) To target.
   She fired a smile at him, the likes of which he hadn't seen in years—since Meg, in fact, had crosshaired him at the junior prom with one of those flirtations that he never would've believed the president of the Methodist Girls' Youth Group was capable of. 1996, Jeffery Deaver, A Maiden's Grave
   My kinfolks had crosshaired in on the truth of the world. 2004, The Iron Mountain Review - Volume 20, page 24
   Shell-shocked, babies and children smothered the instinct to cry and clammed to backs and shoulders and the heldout hand, brave as their parents clinging to the hope of return to their homes crosshaired by the demolition man, as they sought cover under leaves in a shuddering forest. 2005, Ogaga Ifowodo, The Oil Lamp, page xix