Definition of "thwart"

thwart

/θwɔːt/

adjective
comparative more thwart, superlative most thwart
1. Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
  Quotations
  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; […]
  1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 768–773
2. (figuratively, dated) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.
  Quotations
  […] 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, […]
  c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, [Act I, scene iv]
  […] 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; […]
  1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], folio 11, recto
3. (figuratively, dated) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.
adverb
not comparable
1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.
  Quotations
  With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce Forth ruſh the Levant and the Ponent VVindes Eurus and Zephir with their lateral noiſe, Sirocco, and Libecchio.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 701–706
preposition
1. (archaic or poetic) Across, athwart.
verb
third-person singular simple present thwarts, present participle thwarting, simple past and past participle thwarted
1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
  Quotations
  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; […]
  1590, T[homas] L[odge], “Alindas Comfort to Perplexed Rosalynd”, in Rosalynde. Euphues Golden Legacie: […], London: Imprinted by Thomas Orwin for T. G[ubbin] and John Busbie; republished , folio 13, verso, page 34
  The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.
  1662 November 9, Robert South, “, published 1722, page 60
  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?
  1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Company; London: Simpkin and Marshall, Act III, scene i, page 309
  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 had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 361
  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.
  2004, Peter Bondanella, “Wise Guys: Hollywood Italian Gangsters”, in Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, New York, N.Y.: Continuum International Publishing Group, pages 231–232
  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.
  2006, Edwin Black, “Power Struggle”, in Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press
  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.
  2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 – 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 13 December 2011
2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
3. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.
4. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.
  Quotations
  Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr In Autumn thwarts the night, […]
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 555–557
noun
plural thwarts
1. (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.
  Quotations
  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.A diagram of a boat, showing its thwarts, appears on the page.
  , “Our Holiday. Rowing.—I.”, in The Popular Educator: A Complete Encyclopædia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education, new and revised edition, volume IV, London, New York, N.Y.: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, […], page 32, column 2
2. (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.
  Quotations
  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].
  1773, “Of the Canoes and Navigation of the Inhabitants of New Zealand; […]”, in John Hawkesworth, editor, An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, […] In Three Volumes, volume III, Printed for W[illiam] Strahan and T[homas] Cadell […], book II, page 58
  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; […]
  1800, Michael Symes, chapter VII, in An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, by the Governor-General of India, in the Year 1795, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co., […]; and sold by Messrs. G[eorge] and W[illiam] Nicol, […]; and J[ohn] Wright, […], page 223
  I looked down into the Old Town [a canoe]; there was no yoke, only a straight ash thwart.
  2015, Cliff Jacobson, “Outfitting and Customizing Your Canoe”, in Canoeing Wild Rivers: The 30th Anniversary Guide to Expedition Canoeing in North America, 5th edition, Guildford, Conn., Helena, Mont.: Falcon Guides, Rowman & Littlefield, page 66
3. (rare) An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.

Definition of "thwart"

thwart

adjective

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adverb

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preposition

verb

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noun

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