skull and crossbones

1. 1.

   emblem warning of danger or death

   Broaderemblem

   Part ofblack flag

Questions about skull and crossbones

What does skull and crossbones mean?

skull and crossbones means "emblem warning of danger or death".

Is skull and crossbones a common word?

skull and crossbones is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.