athwart

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈθwɔːt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈθwɔɹt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Adverb

athwart (comparative more athwart, superlative most athwart) (nautical)

1. From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) overthwart, transversely

   Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart.

   We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart, forming a crude cross.

   • 1611, Thomas Coryate [i.e., Thomas Coryat], “My Obseruations of Padua”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells , London: W S[tansby for the author], →OCLC, pages 133–134, lines 9–16:

     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.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Same ”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 6th book, page 282:

     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.

   • 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 G and J Robinsons, and J Cottle, , →OCLC, page 33:

     […] Frenzy, fierce-ey'd child of moping pain, / Darts her hot lightning flaſh athvvart the brain.

   • 1827–1879 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Lover’s Tale, London: C Kegan Paul & Co., , published 1879, →OCLC, page 10:

     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— […]

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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:

     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, […]

   • 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:

     He shuffled athwart, keeping one eye ahead vigilantly.

2. Across the path of something, so as to impede progress.

   a fleet standing athwart our course

   • 2021 March 26, Richard Meade, Bigger ships create bigger problems‎:

     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

   • 2021 May 25, “A giant container ship accidentally blocks the Suez Canal”, in The Economist‎, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     One of the world’s largest container ships was wedged athwart the Suez Canal on March 23rd, blown off course by high winds.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2021 March 25, Amanda Mull, “The Big, Stuck Boat Is Glorious: The Ever Given is very big and very stuck.”, in The Atlantic‎, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     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.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book III.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, , volume I, London: J Johnson, , →OCLC, page 69, lines 90–92:

     [W]ith his ſpear / Advanced athvvart puſh'd back the Trojan van, / And all ſtood faſt.

3. (figuratively) Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.

   Synonyms: awry, crosswise

   • c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; , quarto edition, London: P S for Andrew Wise, , published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     [A]ll athvvart there came / A poſt from VVales, loden vvith heauy nevves, […]

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 63, column 2:

     The Baby beates the Nurſe, and quite athvvart / Goes all decorum.

Related terms

Translations

Preposition

athwart

1. From one side to the other side of; across.

   Synonym: (obsolete) overthwart

   The stars moved slowly athwart the sky.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 29, page 226:

     Knit vvith a golden bauldricke, vvhich forelay / Athvvart her ſnovvy breſt, and did diuide / Her daintie paps; […]

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost.  (First Quarto), London: W W for Cutbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W Griggs, , , →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Did neuer Sonnet for her ſake compile, / Nor neuer lay his vvreathed armes athvvart / His louing boſome, to keepe dovvne his hart.

   • 1736, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock ”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. , volume I, London: J and P Knapton, H. Lintot, J and R Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, canto II, page 142, lines 75–76 and 81–82:

     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, […]

   • 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, →OCLC, page 56:

     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!

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Claribel. A Melody.”, in Poems. , volume I, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 3:

     At eve the beetle boometh / Athwart the thicket lone.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:

     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.

2. Across the course or path of, so as to meet; hence (figuratively), to the attention of.
   • 1642, Thomas Fuller, “The True Church Antiquary”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Roger Daniel for John Williams, , →OCLC, book II, paragraph 5, page 71:

     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.

   • 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 Cottle, , and Messrs. Robinsons, , published 1797, →OCLC, page 145, lines 383–384:

     O Years! the blest preeminence of Saints! / Ye sweep athwart my gaze, so heavenly-bright, […]

3. Across the course or path of, so as to oppose.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 681–684:

     VVhence and vvhat art thou, execrable ſhape, / That dar'ſt, though grim and terrible, advance / Thy miſcreated Front athvvart my vvay / To yonder Gates?

   • 1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter III, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. , volume I, London: [William Strahan] for J. Osborn , →OCLC, page 14:

     Lookée, you lubberly ſon of a vv——e, if you come athvvart me, 'vvare your ginger-bread-vvork.

   • 1902, William James, “Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience ‎, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 330:

     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.

   • 2005, Tony Judt, “The Spectre of Revolution”, in Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, New York, N.Y.: The Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 395:

     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.

4. (figuratively)
   1. Across; through.
      • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. , London: J Tonson, , published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 37:

        And novv, athvvart the Terrors that thy Vovv / Has planted round thee, thou appear'ſt more fair, / More amiable, and riſeſt in thy Charms.

      • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, , London: W Taylor , →OCLC, page 19:

        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.

      • 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again ”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 June 2022:

        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.

   2. Opposed to.
      • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 8:

        I have ſeen this preſent vvork, and finde nothing athvvart the Catholick faith and good manners: […]

      • 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, , →OCLC, book XIV, pages 645–646:

        [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.

5. (nautical) Across the line of a ship's course, or across its deck.

   The damaged mainmast fell athwart the deck, destroying the ship’s boat.

   • 1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “The Same Respected Friend in More Aspects than One”, in Our Mutual Friend. , volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1865, →OCLC, book the third (A Long Lane), page 19:

     [H]e [a boat] come right athwart the steamer's bows and she cut him in two.

Derived terms

• athwartship
• athwartships

Translations

References