double-crosser:
(also ‘double-cross‘; plural: ‘double-crossers‘)
a double-crosser — the woman cheating both men
a person who cheats others by doing things in opposition to what has been agreed before, i.e. promising to do one thing but doing an entirely different thing which benefits him/her but harms the others;
a person who works or gets information for one person or organisation, but gives it away to others, mostly to rivals, for money, i.e. agreeing to find secret information about a person or organisation and giving it to the payer, but then giving the same information to any other person or organisation that pays;
a person who pretends to be very friendly with another person and wins his/her confidence and gets secret information about that person, but gives away that secret information to others, mostly to rivals, enemies or to the media, for money;
a double-dealer; a two-timer; a cheat; a deceiver,
a double-crosser — the man cheating both the women
Alex,, an illegal drug dealer, confessed to the anti-drug squad that he had been a double-crosser all along… passing on information of police raids to the other drug dealers he worked with and passing on the information of important drug deals to the police!
During the World War II, several spies were double-crossers, for instance, a German military official seeming to be working for Britain or America, giving them very useful secret information about Germany’s military and other secrets, but at the same time, passing on secret information about Britain or America to Germany, getting benefits or money from both sides! Such people are also called ‘double agents’. This same tradition/practice continued during ‘cold war’ era, too!!
There are several incidents where responsible police officials acting as double-crossers; they cheat their own colleagues and officers on one hand and, on the other hand, the criminals for just a few extra bucks!
