thwart
Part of speech: adj
verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: nautical
transport
Etymology: From Middle English thwerte, from the adjective thwert (“obstinate, perverse”), from Old Norse þvert, neuter of þverr (“transverse”).
Cognates
The English adjective is cognate with Danish tvær (“sullen, sulky”), Gothic 𐌸𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐍃 (þwairhs, “angry”), Middle Dutch dwers, dwars (modern Dutch dwars (“crosswise, transverse; slantwise, askew; stubbornly disobedient”)), Norwegian tvert, tvært, Old Frisian þweres, dwers (Saterland Frisian twars, West Frisian dwers, dwerz (“across, to the other side of; beyond”)), Middle Low German dwers, dwars (Low German dwars (“contrary; cross-grained”)), Old English þweorh (“transverse; perverse; angry, cross”), Old High German twer (Middle High German twer, quer, modern German quer (“crosswise; cross”)), Swedish tvär (“across, transverse; of a curve: sharp; immediate, sudden; grumpy, stubborn”). It is related to queer; also Proto-West Germanic *þwerh,
Inflected forms:
form: more thwart
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most thwart
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: thwarts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: thwarting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: thwartest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: thwartedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: thwarts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: thwarteth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: thwart
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: thwarting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: thwarted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: thwarts
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
pos: adj
examples: Which elſe to ſeveral Sphears thou muſt aſcribe, / Mov'd contrarie with thwart obliquities, / Or ſave the Sun his labour, and that ſwift / Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb ſuppos'd, / Inviſible elſe above all Starrs, the Wheele / Of Day and Night; […]
gloss: Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.
pos: adj
tags: dated
figuratively
examples: […] harke Nature, heare deere Goddeſſe, ſuſpend thy purpoſe, if thou did'ſt intend to make this creature fruitful into her wombe, conuey ſterility, drie vp in hir the organs of increaſe, and from her derogate body neuer ſpring a babe to honour her, if ſhee muſt teeme, create her childe of ſpleene, that it may liue and bee a thourt diſuetur'd^([sic – meaning disnatured]) torment to her, […]
[…] and it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]
gloss: Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.
pos: adj
tags: dated
figuratively
gloss: To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.
The police thwarted the would-be assassin.
If thou grieueſt that beeing the daughter of a Prince, and enuie thwarteth thée with ſuch hard exigents, thinke that royaltie is a faire marke; that Crownes haue croſſes when mirth is in Cottages; that the fairer the Roſe is, the ſooner it is bitten with Catterpillers; […]
The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.
Hear ye the serf I bred, begin to reckon / Upon his rights and pleasure! Who am I— / Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?
Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and 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 perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
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.
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.
Everton were now firmly on the back foot and it required some sharp work from Johnny Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to thwart [Theo] Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.
gloss: To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
gloss: To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
obsolete
examples: An arrow thwarts the air.
Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven / On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr / In Autumn thwarts the night, […]
gloss: A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
pos: noun
examples: The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.
When taking his seat in a boat, the learner should first observe that the thwart is firmly fixed, and that the mat upon it is securely tied to that part of it which is farthest from his rowlock.
Jane Porter had been the first of those in the lifeboat to awaken the morning after the wreck of the Lady Alice. The other members of the party were asleep upon the thwarts or huddled in cramped positions in the bottom of the boat.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.
A conſiderable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were ſecurely laſhed on each ſide, as a ſtrengthening to the boat [a canoe].
My barge was sixty feet in length, and not more than twelve in the widest part; by taking away one thwart beam near the stern, laying a floor two feet below the gunwale, and raising an arched roof about seven feet above the floor, a commodious room was formed, fourteen feet long, and ten wide, with a closet behind it; […]
I looked down into the Old Town [a canoe]; there was no yoke, only a straight ash thwart.
gloss: An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.
pos: noun
tags: rare
Related words: overthwart
overthwartly
overthwartness
Derived words: athwart
athwartship
athwartships
thwartable
thwartedly
thwartedness
thwarter
thwartful
thwartingly
thwartly
thwartness
thwartsome
thwartwise
thwarty
unthwarted
Translations: