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Webster 1913 Edition


Thwart

Thwart

,
Adj.
[OE.
þwart
,
þwert
, a. and adv., Icel.
þvert
, neut. of
þverr
athwart, transverse, across; akin to AS.
þweorh
perverse, transverse, cross, D.
dwars
, OHG.
dwerah
,
twerh
, G.
zwerch
,
quer
, Dan. & Sw.
tver
athwart, transverse, Sw.
tvär
cross, unfriendly, Goth.
þwaírhs
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
,
Adj.
]
Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart.
[Obs.]
Milton.

Thwart

,
p
rep.
Across; athwart.
Spenser.
Thwart ships
.
See
Athwart ships
, under
Athwart
.

Thwart

,
Noun.
(Naut.)
A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.

Thwart

,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare
The proposals of the one never
thwarted
the inclinations of the other.
South.

Thwart

,
Verb.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition


Thwart

THWART

,
Adj.
thwort. [L. verto, versus.] Transverse; being across something else.
Mov'd contrary with thwart obliquities.

THWART

,
Verb.
T.
thwort. To cross; to be, lie or come across the direction of something.
Swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night.
1.
To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat. We say, to thwart a purpose, design or inclination; or to thwart a person.
If crooked fortune had not thwarted me.
The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other.

THWART

,
Verb.
I.
To be in opposition.
--A proposition that shall thwart at all with these internal oracles. [Unusual and improper.]

THWART

,
Noun.
The seat or bench of a boat on which the rowers sit.

Definition 2024


thwart

thwart

English

Verb

thwart (third-person singular simple present thwarts, present participle thwarting, simple past and past participle thwarted)

  1. (transitive) To prevent; to halt; to cause to fail; to foil; to frustrate.
    The police thwarted the would-be assassin.
    Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
    • ?1662 November 24th, Robert South, “Genesis i. 27. So God created Man in his own Image, in the Image of God created He him.” in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occaſions (fifth edition, 1722), volume I, sermon ii, page 60:
      The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Not unnaturally, Auntie took this communication in bad part. [] Next day she [] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
    • 2004, Peter Bondanella, Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, chapter 4, 231–232:
      The film ends with the colorful deaths of Nico's enemies after he thwarts their attempts to assassinate a U.S. Senator investigating ties between drug dealers and the CIA.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
      More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.
    • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:
      Everton were now firmly on the back foot and it required some sharp work from Johnny Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to thwart Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.
  2. (obsolete) To move across or counter to; to cross.
    An arrow thwarts the air.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      Swift as a shooting star / In autumn thwarts the night.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

thwart (plural thwarts)

  1. (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam (breadth) of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.
    A well made doughout canoe rarely needs a thwart.
  2. (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
    The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

thwart (comparative more thwart, superlative most thwart)

  1. Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
    • Milton
      Moved contrary with thwart obliquities.
    • William Morris
      ... wall of forty feet space endlong and over-thwart.
  1. (figuratively) Perverse; crossgrained.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
    • Francis Bacon
      And it is without all controversy, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to government; whereas ignorance makes them churlish, thwart, and mutinous []

Translations

Adverb

thwart (not comparable)

  1. Obliquely; transversely; athwart.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

Translations

References

  1. thwart” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).