crossover cable - technical definition

A network cable that crosses the transmit and receive lines. It is used to connect hubs and switches together using standard MDI-X ports, which are themselves crossover ports. The crossover cable crosses the lines first so that after the MDI-X crosses the lines, they are effectively back to a non-crossed condition.

The ports in modern hubs and switches automatically sense whether they are connecting to other hubs and switches rather than to computers and perform the crossover accordingly (see MDI port for more details). See also null modem cable.