athwart
Adverb
- Across from side to side; transversely.
- at right angles to the center line of a ship
- at an oblique angle
Adv
- From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.
- Across the path of something, so as to impede progress.
- Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.
Prep
- From one side to the other side of; across.
- Across the course or path of, so as to meet; hence (figuratively), to the attention of.
- Across the course or path of, so as to oppose.
- Across; through.
- Opposed to.
- Across the line of a ship's course, or across its deck.
Examples
- a fleet standing athwart our course
- Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart.
- She played a bingo athwart two double-word scores.
- The damaged mainmast fell athwart the deck, destroying the ship’s boat.
- The stars moved slowly athwart the sky.
- We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart, forming a crude cross.
Origin / 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”)
Synonyms
aslant, obliquely, awry, crosswise, overthwart, transversely
Scrabble Score: 13
athwart: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordathwart: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
athwart: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary