▪ I. overthwart, adv. and prep. Now Obs. or rare exc. dial.
(əʊvəˈθwɔːt)
Also 4 ouerthuert, 4–5 -thwert(e, -þwert(e, -twert, 4–6 Sc. ourthwort, 5 ouereþwart, ouerþewert, ouertwart, -twarde, overhwarte, orthward, (auerthwert, -thward, aurthwart, -thewert, awrthwert, awterwart), 5–6 ouerthward(e, -thart(e, Sc. ourthort, -thourth, ouerthort, ouirthort, 6 ortwharte, orewharte, 6–7 (9 dial.) overwhart(e, 8–9 dial. overwart, overquart.
[ME. f. over adv. + þwert adv., a. ON. þvert neuter of þverr = OE. þweorh cross, transverse: see thwart adv.]
A. adv.
1. Over from side to side, or so as to cross something; across, athwart; crosswise, transversely.
| c 1300 Havelok 2822 And demden him to binden faste Vpon an asse..Andelong, nouht ouerthwert. 1375 Barbour Bruce viii. 172 Thre dykis ourthwort he schar Fra bath the mossis to the vay. c 1400 Mandeville ii. 10 The pece [of the Cross] that wente overthwart. c 1489 Caxton Sons of Aymon ix. 238 They.. layed hym vpon a lityll horse overhwarte like as a sacke of corne. 1513 Douglas æneis v. vi. 84 But kest hym evin ourthortour Salyus way. 1600 Holland Livy i. xiii. 10 Then the Sabine dames,..hauing thrust themselues violently overthwart betweene them, began to part these bloodie armies. 1692 tr. Sallust 168 The Yoke was two Spears fixed in the Ground, and a third fastened overthwart from one to the other, like a Gallows. 1764 Museum Rusticum III. lxxiv. 321 Third ploughing, ribbling it overwart. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., To plough overwhart is to plough at right angles to the former furrows. |
b. overthwart and endlong: crosswise and lengthwise, in breadth and length, transversely and longitudinally; hence fig. wholly, completely.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 8582 Þe devels sal, ay, on þam gang To and fra, over-thewrt and endlang. 1417 Surtees Misc. (1888) 13 All the alde stuffe of lede that lay thare before, endelang and overthwart. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xii. 48 He saue you and me, ouertwhart and endlang. |
† 2. fig. Adversely; wrongly, amiss, perversely; angrily, ‘crossly’. Obs.
| 13.. Cursor M. 12084 (Cott.) A maister..Wit ioseph wordes spak ourthuert [Fairf. ouer-thwert]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace 2318 Þat word tok he yuel til herte, He vnderstod hit al ouerþwerte. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 2104 And answerd the king ful ouertwert. 1535 Goodly Primer, Exp. Ps. li. (v. 18) With the wicked shalt thou play overthwart. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xxxiii. 19 Run thei right: run thei ouertharte, Out wyll I powre them. |
† 3. Over against something else, opposite. rare.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. x. 51 And her before was seated overthwart Soft Silence, and submisse Obedience. |
† 4. Here and there, all about. Sc. Obs.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. iv. 211 S. Palladie Bischope, and vthires..ouirthort [L. sparsim] in his kingdome, he promouet thame to steddings and feildes. |
B. prep.
1. From side to side of; so as to cross; across, athwart.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3721 Ys body was tornd ouer-thwart þe way. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §5 Ouer-thwart this for-seide longe lyne, ther crosseth hym a-nother lyne. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 234 A loklate bar was drawyn our⁓thourth the dur. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. ii. (1895) 163 That table standeth ouer wharte the ouer ende of the halle. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xxxi. (1639) 51 Cause him to sit overthwart a stoole in riding fashion. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 43 Lay Bridges overtwhart the Joyses. 1736 Bailey Househ. Dict. 116 Cut it into collars overthwart both the sides. 1892 Morris Yorksh. Folk-talk s.v., He ran owerquart t' clooas. |
† 2. Over against, opposite. Obs.
| 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 353 They..twentie leagues ouerthwart the port. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 228/2 Dost thou know the man That doth so closely overthwart us stand? 1630 Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 15 Disputing..in two pewes one ouerthwart the other. |
3. On the opposite side of; across, beyond.
| 1784 Cowper Task i. 169 Far beyond, and overthwart the stream..The sloping land recedes into the clouds. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., He lives o'erwart the way. |
▪ II. overthwart, a. and n. Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈəʊvəθwɔːt)
Forms: see prec.; also 5 authwart, awthwert, ouerqwert.
[f. prec.]
A. adj.
1. Placed or lying crosswise, or across something else; transverse, cross-.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1384, & þiker þrowen vmbe þour with ouer-þwert palle. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 6 Þai made þe ouerthwert pece of palme. c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 72 Suetonius..camm throughe an overthwarte waye to London as to a place of safetie. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 7 Nominatyd the ouerthwart muskles, in latin: musculi transuersi. 1623 T. Scot Highw. God 8 Two crosse or ouerthwart wayes. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 112 The transomes, or over-thwart stones [at Stonehenge], are quite plain. |
† b. Crossing the right line; oblique, slanting; wry, skew: cf. overthwartly 3. Obs.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iv. Introd. (1636) 435 There is another great stooping and overthwart Circle, called the Ecliptique line. |
† c. fig. Indirect: cf. overthwartly 4. Obs.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 88 You wyl haue some ouer⁓twhart reason to drawe forthe more communication withall. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini, Pol. Touchstone (1674) 283 [They] take impious and overthwart revenge of even those that would not be secure. |
† 2. Situated or residing across or on the opposite side of something intervening; opposite. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 264 The soonne leaueth those regions, and goth by the contrarye or ouerthwarte circle towarde the south in wynter. 1692 Dryden Cleomenes v. ii, We whisper, for fear our o'erthwart neighbours should hear us cry, Liberty. |
3. fig. Inclined to cross or oppose; perverse, froward, contrarious; contentious, captious, contradictious, quarrelsome, testy, ‘cross’; adverse, contrary, hostile, unfriendly, unfavourable.
| c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II (Percy Soc.) lxxviii, When God Almyȝty seth The work is overthwart. 1382 Wyclif 2 Tim. iii. 4 Traitours, proterue, or ouerthwert, bollun with proude thouȝtis. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1960 He onswaret hym angerly with Awthwert wordis. c 1530 tr. Erasmus' Serm. Ch. Jesus (1901) 20 A..kynde of chyldren, which is cleane ouertwart. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. xxvi, Of a Spirit averse and over-thwart. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1702) I. 64 That overthwart [ed. 1888 §174 thwartover] humour was enough discover'd to rule in the breasts of many. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Overquart, Overthwart,..perverse, contrary, contradictory or contentious. |
† B. n. [Absolute use of adj.] Obs.
1. A transverse or cross direction. In phrases at an overthwart, to overthwart: in a transverse direction, crosswise, across.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. viii, At the last at an ouerthwart Beaumayns with his hors strake the grene knyghtes hors vpon the syde. Ibid. xvii, The reed knyghte..at an ouerthwart smote hym within the hand. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 86 b, Phu..hath litle rootes growyng to ouerthwart. |
b. A transverse passage, a by-way, a crossing; a transverse line.
| 1580 Will in Gentl. Mag. Sept. (1861) 258, I leave my eldest sonn..also the newe overthwarte in the cittie of Corcke, and all the lands east of it to the Queenes walls. a 1631 Donne Poems, Anat. World 256 To finde out..Such diuers downe-right lines, such ouerthwarts, As disproportion that pure forme. |
c. Opposite point.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 92 It cannot be meted by a streight line drawn from it to its overthwart. |
2. An adverse experience; a ‘cross’, a rebuff.
| a 1547 Surrey Praise of mean Estate 12 A hart well stayd, in ouerthwartes depe Hopeth amendes. 1587 Golding De Mornay xxvi. 406 The ouerthwartes that Abraham indured for Sara his wife in Aegypt. 1609 F. Grevil Alaham iii. iii, I feare the cariage: it hath many parts, And Hazards courses may finde ouerthwarts. |
b. Contradiction; a rebuff; a repartee.
| c 1555 Abp. Parker Ps. xxxiv. 86 Keepe ye hys tong from ouerthwart. 1595 Copley Wits, Fits, & F. 147 For these wittie ouerthwarts the Gent. entertain'd the boy into his seruice. |
▪ III. overthwart, v. Now rare.
(əʊvəˈθwɔːt)
Also 5 -twert, 5–7 -whart, 6 -twhart, 8 -wart.
[f. prec. adv. or adj.]
1. a. trans. To pass or lie athwart or across; to traverse, cross.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12072 At wyketys or wyndowys..Ouerthwertyd with no latys. c 1430 ― Reas. & Sens. (E.E.T.S.) 4786, I Gan to crosse dovne and dale And ouer twerten hille and vale. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 18 The one embrasynge, compassyng and ouerthwarting thother. 1552 Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees, No. 97) 31 Two tunacles of whyt bustian..overthuarde withe read vorsted. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 504 Each Tide ouerthwarting another with repugnant courses. 1832 Tennyson Œnone 137 Her clear and barèd limbs O'erthwarted with the brazen-headed spear Upon her pearly shoulder leaning cold. |
b. To lie across, or place something across, so as to stop the way; to obstruct.
| 1654 tr. Martini's Conq. China 135 These places might have been easily defended if they had but.. overthawrted the ways by any incumbrances. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) VI. 89 If the Seas should overthwart him, He would swim to the shore. |
c. To plough across.
| 1764 Museum Rusticum III. lxxiv. 320 Ploughing up the tare land,..Overwarting another clean earth. |
2. fig. a. To act in opposition to; to cross, oppose; to hinder, thwart. Also absol.
| a 1529 Skelton Ware Hauke 230 He sayde, for a crokid intent The wordes were paruerted: And this he ouerthwarted. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vii. xviii. §11. 292 They..endeuored to ouerthwart and gainsay whatsoeuer he proposed. a 1640 W. Fenner Sacrifice Faithfull ii. (1648) 62 Sinne may be said to be civilized, when it is overwharted by a higher principle. 1937 John o' London's 5 Feb. 761/2 My parents were for ever overthwarting me, both on 'em. Always to school I had to go till I was twelve, and to church I had to go regular as clockwork. |
† b. To render ‘overthwart’; to pervert. rare.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ii. xxvii. (1554) 62 b, A wuluishe thyrst to shede mannes blood, Whych ouerwharted..His royal corage, into tyrannye. |
Hence overˈthwarting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1552 Huloet, Ouerthwartynge, peruicatia, pravitas. Ibid., Ouerthwartynge knaue, perperus. 1616 Rich Cabinet Z vj, All quarrelling, wrangling, and ouerthwarting must be auoided. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix. 421 Their..heads are..couered with ouerthwarting strokes of crooked shables. 1942 W. Rose Good Neighbours iii. 20 A field was first evenly ploughed all over, after which cross ploughing—called over-a-thurting—often followed, severing the furrows and leaving the soil thoroughly exposed to the air. |