Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Thwart?

\Thwart\, a. [OE. [thorn]wart, [thorn]wert, a. and adv., Icel. [thorn]vert, neut. of [thorn]verr athwart, transverse, across; akin to AS. [thorn]weorh perverse, transverse, cross, D. dwars, OHG. dwerah, twerh, G. zwerch, quer, Dan. & Sw. tver athwart, transverse, Sw. tv["a]r cross, unfriendly, Goth. [thorn]wa['i]rhs angry. Cf. {Queer}.] 1. Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique. Moved contrary with thwart obliquities. --Milton. 2. Fig.: Perverse; crossgrained. [Obs.] --Shak.
\Thwart\, adv. [See {Thwart}, a.] Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart. [Obs.] --Milton.
\Thwart\, prep. Across; athwart. --Spenser. {Thwart ships}. See {Athwart ships}, under {Athwart}.
\Thwart\, n. (Naut.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.
\Thwart\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Thwarted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Thwarting}.] 1. To move across or counter to; to cross; as, an arrow thwarts the air. [Obs.] Swift as a shooting star In autumn thwarts the night. --Milton. 2. To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to run counter to; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat. If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. --Shak. The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other. --South.
\Thwart\, v. i. 1. To move or go in an oblique or crosswise manner. [R.] 2. Hence, to be in opposition; to clash. [R.] Any proposition . . . that shall at all thwart with internal oracles. --Locke.