Definition of "athwart"
athwart
adverb
comparative more athwart, superlative most athwart
From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.
Quotations
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.
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], lines 9–16
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.
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, […], 6th book, page 282
[…] Frenzy, fierce-ey'd child of moping pain, / Darts her hot lightning flaſh athvvart the brain.
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, […], page 33
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— […]
1827–1879 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Lover’s Tale, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1879, page 10
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.
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 159
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, […]
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Walking the Plank”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, page 268
(figuratively) Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.
Quotations
The Baby beates the Nurſe, and quite athvvart / Goes all decorum.
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, [Act I, scene iii], page 63, column 2
preposition
From one side to the other side of; across.
Quotations
Did neuer Sonnet for her ſake compile, / Nor neuer lay his vvreathed armes athvvart / His louing boſome, to keepe dovvne his hart.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [Act IV, scene iii]
Ye knovv the ſpheres and various taſks aſſign'd / By lavvs eternal to th' aërial kind. / […] / Some leſs refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light / Purſue the ſtars that ſhoot athvvart the night, […]
1736, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock […]”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, canto II, page 142, lines 75–76 and 81–82
But oh that deep romantic chasm which slanted / Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! / A savage place! as holy and inchanted / As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted / By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, page 56
Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, page 168
(figuratively) , to the attention of.
Quotations
For here our ſouls hath but one eye (the Apoſtle ſaith, vve knovv in part) be not proud if that chance to come athvvart thy ſeeing ſide, vvhich meets with the blind ſide of another.
1642, Thomas Fuller, “The True Church Antiquary”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], book II, paragraph 5, page 71
O Years! the blest preeminence of Saints! / Ye sweep athwart my gaze, so heavenly-bright, […]
1794 December 24 (date written), S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Religious Musings. A Desultory Poem, Written on the Christmas Eve of 1794.”, in Poems, […], 2nd edition, London: […] N. Briggs, for J[oseph] Cottle, […], and Messrs. Robinsons, […], published 1797, page 145, lines 383–384
Across the course or path of, so as to oppose.
Quotations
VVhence and vvhat art thou, execrable ſhape, / That dar'ſt, though grim and terrible, advance / Thy miſcreated Front athvvart my vvay / To yonder Gates?
1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 681–684
It is the voice of human experience within us, judging and condemning all gods that stand athwart the pathway along which it feels itself to be advancing.
1902, William James, “Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […], New York, N.Y., London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], page 330
The new fashions were perforce addressed to the more prosperous young: the children of Europe’s white middle-class, who could afford records, concerts, shoes, clothes, make-up and modish hair-styling. But the presentation of these wares cut ostentatiously athwart conventional lines.
2005, Tony Judt, “The Spectre of Revolution”, in Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, New York, N.Y.: The Penguin Press, page 395
(figuratively)
Quotations
About three in the Afternoon he came up vvith us, and bringing too by Miſtake, juſt athvvart our Quarter, inſtead of athvvart our Stern, as he intended, vve brought 8 of our Guns to bear on that Side, and pour'd in a Broadſide upon him, vvhich made him ſheer off again, after returning our Fire, and pouring in alſo his ſmall Shot from near 200 Men vvhich he had on Board.
1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, page 19
And should the moon happen to hit its ever-shifting orbital perigee at the same time that it lies athwart from the sun, we are treated to a so-called supermoon, a full moon that can seem close enough to embrace – as much as 12 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon.
2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again ”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, archived from the original on 22 June 2022
Quotations
[S]he, athwart many impediments, An ardent rider, often on horseback, at paces furiously swift; her beautiful face tanned by the weather. Very devout too; honest to be bone, athwart all her prejudices.
1862, Thomas Carlyle, “Carnival Phenomena in War-time”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], book XIV, pages 645–646