athwart
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈθwɔːt/
ipa: /əˈθwɔɹt/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
Forms: form: more athwart
form: most athwart
Etymology: From Late Middle English athwert, athirt, from a- (prefix meaning ‘in the direction of, toward’) + thwert (“crosswise; (cooking) across the grain”, adverb). Thwert is derived from thwert (“crosswise, transverse; counter, opposing; contrary, obstinate, stubborn”, adjective), borrowed from Old Norse þvert (“across, athwart”), originally the neuter form of þverr (“across, transverse”), from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz (“cross; adverse”) (altered or influenced by Proto-Germanic *þweraną (“to stir; to swirl; to turn”)), from Proto-Germanic *þerh-, probably from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”). The English word is analysable as a- (prefix meaning ‘in the direction of, toward’) + thwart (“placed or situated across something else”).
Cognates
* Scots athort (“athwart”)
Senses: examples: text: Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart.
text: We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart, forming a crude cross.
text: In the fore part of his garment vvhich couered his breaſt he vvore pretie taſſels inſteed of buttons, like to thoſe that our Engliſh Souldiers doe vveare about their bandeleers, in vvhich they put their gunnepovvder. Theſe taſſels came dovvne athvvart ouer his breaſt; truely I did invvardly reioyce to ſee his pourtraiture.
ref: 1611, Thomas Coryate [i.e., Thomas Coryat], “My Obseruations of Padua”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby for the author], →OCLC, pages 133–134, lines 9–16:
text: Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back.
ref: 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Same [i.e., the Blacknesse of Negroes]”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 282:
text: […] Frenzy, fierce-ey'd child of moping pain, / Darts her hot lightning flaſh athvvart the brain.
ref: 1796, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Lines on a Friend who Died of a Frenzy Fever Induced by Calumnious Reports”, in Poems on Various Subjects, London: […] G[eorge] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinsons, and J[oseph] Cottle, […], →OCLC, page 33:
text: They come, they crowd upon me all at once— / Moved from the cloud of unforgotten things, / That sometimes on the horizon of the mind / Lies unfolded, often sweeps athwart in storm— […]
ref: 1827–1879 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Lover’s Tale, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1879, →OCLC, page 10:
text: But he had left the green wood, and the thousand inspirations of the wild flowers, and the shadows that flit athwart the drooping boughs, for scenes whose inspirations were thought, toil, and suffering.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 159:
text: Just as the first ray of the rising sun shot like a golden arrow athwart this storied desolation we gained the further gateway of the outer wall, […]
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Walking the Plank”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 268:
text: He shuffled athwart, keeping one eye ahead vigilantly.
ref: 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 204, column 2:
topics: nautical
transport
synonyms: word: overthwart
word: transversely
glosses: From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.
examples: text: a fleet standing athwart our course
text: One of the world’s largest containerships wedged athwart the Suez Canal has offered the shipping industry a timely reminder that super-sized ships can create super-sized problems
ref: 2021 March 26, Richard Meade, Bigger ships create bigger problems:
text: One of the world’s largest container ships was wedged athwart the Suez Canal on March 23rd, blown off course by high winds.
ref: 2021 May 25, “A giant container ship accidentally blocks the Suez Canal”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: The Ever Given is standing athwart one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, yelling “Oops!” She is ruining everything, and at least for the moment, she cannot be (un)stopped.
ref: 2021 March 25, Amanda Mull, “The Big, Stuck Boat Is Glorious: The Ever Given is very big and very stuck.”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: [W]ith his ſpear / Advanced athvvart puſh'd back the Trojan van, / And all ſtood faſt.
ref: 1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book III.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 69, lines 90–92:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Across the path of something, so as to impede progress.
examples: text: [A]ll athvvart there came / A poſt from VVales, loden vvith heauy nevves, […]
ref: c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: The Baby beates the Nurſe, and quite athvvart / Goes all decorum.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 63, column 2:
topics: nautical
transport
synonyms: awry
crosswise
glosses: Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.
Related terms: word: overthwart
word: overthwartly
word: overthwartness
word: thwart
word: thwarted
word: thwarten
word: thwartened
word: thwarter
word: thwarting
word: thwartwise
word: unthwartable
word: unthwarted