▪ I. thwart, n.1 Now rare.
(θwɔːt)
[f. thwart v.]
An act or instance of thwarting; a check, hindrance, obstruction, frustration.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Vent, Batu de mauvais vent, crost by a contrarie, or malignant thwart. 1632 Rowley New Wonder i. 11 Full oft, and many have I heard complaine Of discontents, thwarts, and adversities. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 81 Any considerable thwart in the Motion. 1742 H. Walpole Lett. to Mann (1834) I. 104 The number of blows and thwarts which the French have received. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ii. iii, A certain discourteous person..in thwart of your fair inclinations, keepeth and detaineth your irradiant frame in hostile thraldom. 1902 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 547/1, I distrust that man—He's a thwart—a moral thwart. |
▪ II. thwart, n.2
(θwɔːt)
[app. a n. use (which came in after 1725) of thwart adv. and adj., having reference to the position of the rowing benches or seats athwart or across the boat. Whether its use was partly due to similarity of sound to thaught, thawt, or thought, previously applied to the same thing, is uncertain. Our latest contemporary instance of ‘thaught or thought’ is of 1721, of thoat 1697, of thout 1725, while our first of ‘thaughts or thwarts’ is of 1736, so that the appellations were continuous in use, as if the one had passed into the other. But, for the full determination of the relations between thoft, thought or thaught, and thwart, fuller evidence between 1500 and 1700 is needed. Cf. thoft, thought2.]
A seat across a boat, on which the rower sits; a rower's bench.
| [1721 Bailey, Thoughts, the Rowers Seats in a Boat.] 1736 ― (folio), Thaughts, v. Thwarts. Ibid., Thwarts, (a Sea Term) the boards or benches laid a-cross boats and gallies, upon which the rowers sit. 1770 Cook Voy. round World ii. x. (1773) 462 A considerable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale. 1776 Falconer's Dict. Marine, Thwart, the seat or bench of a boat whereon the rowers sit to manage the oars. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise Cachalot 41 We drew each man his oar across the boat and lashed it firmly down with a piece of line spliced to each thwart. |
▪ III. thwart, adv., prep., and a.
(θwɔːt)
Forms: 3 þuert, ðwert, (Orm.) þwerrt, 4 thwert, 5 þwerte, twhert, thuart, 5–7 twart, thwarte, twhart, 6–7 thwarth, thawart(e, (qwarte, whart), 7 twarte, 9 dial. thort, thurt, thirt, thert, 5– thwart.
[Early ME. (c 1200) þwert, a. ON. þvert (Norw. tvert, tvært, Sw. tvert, tvärt, Da. tvært) adv., across, athwart, orig. neuter of the ON. adj. þver-r (Norw. tver, tvær, Sw. tver, tvär, Da. tvær), transverse, cross. Cf. OHG. twer, MHG. twer, quer, Ger. quer, and (with adv. gen. -s), OFris. þweres, dwers, Satl. twars, WFris. dwerz, dwers, EFris. dwars, dwas, MLG., MD. dwers, dwars, LG., Du. dwars, athwart, crossly, peevishly; ON. þvers = þvert. ON. þver was shortened from *þverh = OE. þwerh, þweorh (genitive þweores, in comb. þweor-) crooked, cross, perverse = OHG. dwerh, dwerah, twerh, MHG. dwerch, twerch, Ger. zwerch- (in composition), Goth. þwairhs cross, angry,:—OTeut. *þwerh-:—*þwerhw-:—Indo-Eur. *twerkw-, whence L. torquēre to twist, Skr. tark{uacu} spindle. In Eng. the adv. is known c 1200, first in the combinations þwert {uacu}t (thwert-out) and þwert-over (thwart-over), later (c 1300) over-þwert (overthwart). It was used as an adj., with a vb. þwerten, both fig., c 1250, and as a prep. bef. 1300. In all these thwert became thwart in the 15th c. Thwart n. is found in the 17th c.
The ME. material is scanty, and the sense development is not illustrated fully by the extant quotations. The senses are therefore here arranged in what appears to be the logical order.]
A. adv.
† 1. Across or transversely to the length, direction, or course of anything; from side to side; crosswise, transversely; = athwart A. 1. Obs.
| a 1350 St. Thomas 85 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 21 A grete blak dog..Thwert in his mouth þe hand he broght. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 402/2 A man on hors backe which bare a longe tree thwarte and wold entre in to the temple, and he myght not by cause the tree laye thwarte. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 24 b/1 An apertione accordinge to the length of that parte, and not thwart or crosseover. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. 79 A great tree (that lay thwart as a barricado). 1664 Evelyn Sylva (1776) 405 Till you can lay them thwart, that the top of one may rest on the root or stub of the other. |
† b. fig. Across the course of, so as to obstruct or oppose; adversely; = athwart A. 3. Obs.
| a 1628 Preston New Covt. (1634) 146 There are many things in the Creature that are crosse to us, that fall thwart upon us. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience ii. xi. 214 A work that lyes thwart, and strives against the current of your naturall inclination. |
2. From one side to the other of anything (with motion implied); across. arch.
| 1511 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 6 We trauersed out of that ryuer into an other lytell ryuer, whiche brought us thawarte ayen into Latyze. 1880 Webb Goethe's Faust i. i. 31 Up, down and thwart, without repose, To lead my scholars by the nose. |
† 3. thwart of. a. Naut. Opposite to, over against (a place on the coast); = off B. II. 6 b.
| 1556 W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 98 We were thwart of Porto Sancto. 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 16 Being thwart of the Shoals of Brazil. |
† b. Transversely to, across the direction of. Obs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. x. 703 With adverse blast up-turns them from the South Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds..; thwart of these as fierce Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent Windes Eurus and Zephir. |
B. prep.
1. From side to side of, across: a. of position or direction; = athwart B. 1 b. arch. or poet.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. viii. 173 Lucyus smote Arthur thwart the vysage. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. x. 44 Our patrone..was..caste thwart the nose of our gallie. 1680 Lond. Gaz. No. 1550/4 [He] hath a Scar thwart the back of one of his Hands. 1741 in Descr. Thames (1758) 87 No Person..shall..bend any Net, by Anchors or otherwise, thwart the Channel, and so as to draw another Net into it. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 192 A pink-tinged cloud spread thwart the shore. |
b. of motion: = athwart B. 1 a. arch. or poet.
| 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 91 Came three messengers thwart the fieldes in at the wood gate. 1598 Stow Surv. iii. (1603) 14 Which ran..through that streete, thwart Grastreete, and downe Lumbard streete. 1738 Gray Tasso 7 Thwart the road a River roll'd its flood tempestuous. 1813 T. Busby Lucretius ii. 131 When shines the God of Day, And thwart the darkened chamber darts his ray. 1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 2 Thwart my wistful way did a damsel saunter. |
2. Across the course or direction of; = athwart B. 3. thwart the hawse († halse), across the stem of a ship. Chiefly Naut.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. vi. (W. de W.) g v/1 Two holowe synewes whiche ben callyd Optici..come eyther thwart other, and ben Ioyned in a poynte. 1620 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1906) 220 Intending with her to laie the Portingall admirall thwart the halse and soe to burne both together. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 85 For foure leagues into the sea (thwart it), lye banks of sand. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 54 Fibres that cross and go thwart one another. |
† 3. Across the course of, so as to obstruct; = athwart B. 5. Obs.
| 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 31 Crosse-jingling periods which..come thwart a setl'd devotion worse then the din of bells and rattles. |
C. adj.
1. Lying, extending, or passing across; transverse, cross; in quots. 1483, 1712, perh. oblique. † thwart circle, the zodiac (obs.). See also thwart-saw.
| 1404 [implied in thwart-saw]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 121 b/1 It was made lyke a crosse thwart of whyche the two endes were fyxed in therthe. And that hys membres shold theron be broken. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 30 The Zodiak (whiche many doo call the Thwarte circle). 1658 J. Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 971 The last part is whitish, chequered with right and thwart fibres. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 41 The Diagonal or Thwart-walk. 1836 W. Irving Astoria (1849) 86 They have thwart pieces from side to side about three inches thick. 1873 Proctor Expanse Heav. 282 The determination of the actual rate of any star's thwart motion. |
2. fig. a. Of persons or their attributes: Disposed to resist, oppose, or obstruct; cross-grained; perverse, froward, obstinate, stubborn, awkward.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3099 Ðo pharaun saȝ is lond al fre, His herte ðo wurð ðwert and hard. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. iv, This old Sir Raderick it shall be thy taske to cudgell with thy thick thwart termes. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. §8 Ignorance makes them [the minds of men] churlish, thwart, and mutinous. 1656 Baxter Reformed Pastor 234, I would not have any to be thwart and contentious with those that govern them. 1819 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. ii. 90 Noontide would come, And thwart Silenus find his goats undrawn. 1892 Stevenson Across the Plains 238 The crass public or the thwart reviewer. |
b. Of things: Adverse, unfavourable, untoward, unpropitious; esp. applied (with mixture of literal sense) to a wind or current: cross.
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 129 These thwart effects fell out even then when things were said to be carried..so justly. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 472 Not only neere it in blood, but allyed in thwart fortune. a 1660 Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) II. 36 This secret and thwarte dealinge is worse then open and publicke violence. Ibid. III. 42 A demonstration of theire reciprocall thwarte dealinge. 1865 Swinburne Atalanta 184 A thwart sea-wind full of rain and foam. 1889 Skrine Mem. E. Thring 235 In spite of these thwart currents, Thring built up his large school. |
† 3. Opposed, contrary (to); in quot. 1614, opposed in sense, antithetical, contrasted. Obs.
| a 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. i. 304 Why should you runne an Idle counter-course Thwart to the path of fashion? 1614 T. Adams Fatal Banquet iv. Wks. 1861 I. 216 A pair of cross and thwart sentences, handled rather by collation than relation, whose conjunction is disjunctive. 1615 Jackson Creed iv. ii. vi. §5 A meaning as ridiculous, as thwart and contradictory to his purpose as the devil himself could have devised. 1624 Bp. R. Montagu Gagg Pref. 23 To be thwart unto, and against the maine of the business negotiated. |
▪ IV. thwart, v.
(θwɔːt)
[f. prec. adv.]
I. 1. trans. To pass or extend across from side to side of; to traverse, cross; also, to cross the direction of, to run at an angle to. Obs. or arch.
| 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. i. (1859) 70 A Cercle embelyfyng somwhat, and thwartyng the thycknes of the spyere. 1530 Palsgr. 757/2, I thwarte the waye, I go over the waye to stoppe one, je trenche le chemyn. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. iv. 10 Pericles Is now againe thwarting thy wayward seas. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 39 You set your sailes so sharp as you can to lie close by a wind, thwarting it a league or two,..first on the one boord then on the other. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 50 If the Hepatique line be thwarted by other small lines. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine N iij, The current thwarts the course of a ship. 1805–6 Cary Dante's Inf. xxv. 72 The lizard seems A flash of lightning, if he thwart the road. 1863 P. S. Worsley Poems & Transl. 10 That white reach Thwarting the blue serene, a belt of fire. |
b. intr. To pass or extend across, to cross. Obs. or arch.
| a 1552 Leland Itin. (1744) VII. 53 The Towne of Cokermuth stondeth on the Ryver of Coker, the which thwartheth over the Town. 1598 Stow Surv. xli. (1603) 436 A close cart, bayled ouer and couered with blacke, hauing a plaine white Crosse thwarting. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy xiv. xciii, Through the mid-throng the nearest way he thwarted. 1627 Hakewill Apol. Pref. 10 It led them some other way, thwarting, and upon the by, not directly. 1856 T. Aird Poet. Wks. 189 They scream, they mix, they thwart, they eddy round. |
† c. trans. To cross the path of; to meet; to fall in with, come across. Obs.
| 1601 Chester Love's Mart., K. Arth. xx, Merlin..Who by great fortunes chance sir Vlfius thwarted, As he went by in beggers base aray. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 146 Motions to be checkt..without the least hit or stop from other bodies that thwart them. 1812 Cary Dante's Par. iv. 89 Another question thwarts thee. |
† d. Naut. Of a ship, etc.: To get athwart so as to be foul of. Also intr. Obs.
| 1809 Naval Chron. XXIV. 23 The boat having thwarted against the moorings. 1810 Ibid. XXIII. 97 The frigate now..thwarted the Lord Keith's hawse. 1813 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 107/1 The Amelia twice fell on board the enemy in attempting to thwart his hawse. |
† 2. To lay (a thing) athwart or across; to place crosswise; to set or put (things) across each other.
thwart over thumb (quot. 1522) app. = to cross (one) over the thumbs: see thumb n. 5 d.
| 1522 Skelton Why not to Court 197 Thus thwartyng ouer thom, He ruleth all the roste. 1588 Spenser Virgil's Gnat 514 The noble sonne of Telamon..thwarting his huge shield, Them battell bad. 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 25 b, Their bils were thwarted crossewise at the end, and with these they would cut an Apple in two at one snap. Ibid. 26 b, The inhabitants make use of divers his Creekes, for griste-milles, by thwarting a bancke from side to side. 1623 Markham Cheap Husb. i. ii. (1631) 14 Carry your rod..in your right hand, the point either directly upright, or thwarted towards your left shoulder. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vii. 309 They make..the signe of the Crosse.., thwarting their two foremost fingers. |
3. To cross with a line, streak, band, etc. (Only in pa. pple.) Obs. or arch.
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xiv. (1660) 162 The blacke line on the ridge of all Asses backes, thwarted with the like over both the Shoulders. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. i. 63 Turbants are made like great globes of callico too, and thwarted with roules of the same. 1658 J. Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 942 The body all over of a yellow colour, except where it is thwarted with cross streaks or lines. 1861 Temple Bar Mag. II. 256, I saw Vesuvius..thwarted by a golden cloud. |
b. To cross-plough; also, to cut crosswise.
| 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. ii. 318 The burnt earth is then spread on the land and thwarted in (that is, ploughed across the direction in which the land is ploughed when laid up in stetches for sowing). 1871 Couch Hist. Polperro vi. 117 Land broken for wheat is thwarted in the Spring. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Thurt, Why, 'tis a wo'th vive shillings to thurt thick there butt. 1898 Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. Nov. 38 All my three ploughs were at work ‘thwarting’—that is crossploughing—rootland on the Nunnery Farm. |
4. To obstruct (a road, course, or passage) with something placed across; to block. Obs. exc. fig.
| c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §65 (1810) 63 The rebellious commons..thwarted the ways with great trees. Ibid. §269. 278 [A stream] whose course is thwarted with a damm, which we call a wear. 1725 Pope Odyss. x. 72 What Dæmon cou'dst thou meet To thwart thy passage and repel thy fleet? 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 58 They met with a six-barred gate that directly thwarted their passage. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 72 They sometimes speed, but often thwart our course. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. v. 60 If no misadventure thwarted his progress. |
II. 5. To act or operate in opposition to; to run counter to, to go against; to oppose, hinder. Also absol. Now rare.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1324 Quat-so god bad, ðwerted he it neuer a del. c 1430, 1530 [implied in thwarting vbl. n. 2 and ppl. a. 2]. 1600 Holland Livy xxxv. xxxii. 907 Such as might..not sticke to speake their minds franckly, yea, & thwart the king his embassadour. 1671 Bp. Parker Def. Eccl. Pol. iii. §15. 298 To what purpose does he so briskly taunt me for thwarting my own Principles. 1676 W. Allen Address Nonconf. 130 The danger of Schism, and the evil of thwarting publick Laws. 1783 Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Indies VII. 379 They had unfortunately been so much thwarted by the winds as to prevent their landing before summer. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxvi. (1819) 436 General laws, however well set and constituted, often thwart and cross one another. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. II. 370 The countess was not always disposed to thwart and vex: a little flattery would soothe her. |
b. intr. To speak or act in contradiction or opposition; to be adverse or at variance, to conflict. Const. with. Now rare or Obs.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 59 b, I wyll nat multyplie wordes or thwarte with the. 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. ii. 185 Is't possible that sisters should so thwart In natiue humours? 1656 Burton's Diary (1828) I. 15 This clause thwarts with his Highness's ordinances. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 272 It would thwart with my intended Brevity. 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 42 They also accept..the Smritis, the Puránas, &c., the work of Rishis, when those books do not thwart with the Veda. |
6. trans. To oppose successfully; to prevent (a person, etc.) from accomplishing a purpose; to prevent the accomplishment of (a purpose); to foil, frustrate, balk, defeat. (The chief current sense.)
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions iv. (1887) 17 He may either proceede at his owne libertie, if nothing withstand him, or may not proceede, if he be thwarted by circunstance. 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres v. 166 The Earle seeing himselfe twharted, resolved to fight. 1697 J. Lewis Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789) 34 From being sometimes a little thwarted, and thro' dissatisfaction, she grew sick. 1718 Free-thinker No. 65 ¶6 Perpetual Obstacles..thwarted his Designs. 1803 Dk. Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) II. 352 Thus are all our best plans thwarted. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 429 The party which had long thwarted him had been beaten down. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 15 But all these good intentions were thwarted by the inherent vice of his position. |