[f. prec. adv.]
I. 1. trans. To pass or extend across from side to side of; to traverse, cross; also, to cross the direction of, to run at an angle to. Obs. or arch.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), V. i. (1859), 70. A Cercle embelyfyng somwhat, and thwartyng the thycknes of the spyere.
1530. Palsgr., 757/2. I thwarte the waye, I go over the waye to stoppe one, je trencke le chemyn.
1608. Shaks., Per., IV. iv. 10. Pericles Is now againe thwarting thy wayward seas.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ix. 39. You set your sailes so sharp as you can to lie close by a wind, thwarting it a league or two,… first on the one boord then on the other.
1653. R. Sanders, Physiogn., 50. If the Hepatique line be thwarted by other small lines.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine, N iij. The current thwarts the course of a ship.
1805–6. Cary, Dante’s Inf., XXV. 72. The lizard seems A flash of lightning, if he thwart the road.
1863. P. S. Worsley, Poems & Transl., 10. That white reach Thwarting the blue serene, a belt of fire.
b. intr. To pass or extend across, to cross. Obs. or arch.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin. (1744), VII. 53. The Towne of Cokermuth stondeth on the Ryver of Coker, the which thwartheth over the Town.
1598. Stow, Surv., xli. (1603), 436. A close cart, bayled ouer and couered with blacke, hauing a plaine white Crosse thwarting.
1609. Heywood, Brit. Troy, XIV. xciii. Through the mid-throng the nearest way he thwarted.
1627. Hakewill, Apol., Pref. 10. It led them some other way, thwarting, and upon the by, not directly.
1856. T. Aird, Poet. Wks., 189. They scream, they mix, they thwart, they eddy round.
† c. trans. To cross the path of; to meet; to fall in with, come across. Obs.
1601. Chester, Love’s Mart., K. Arth., xx. Merlin … Who by great fortunes chance sir Vlfius thwarted, As he went by in beggers base aray.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 146. Motions to be checkt … without the least hit or stop from other bodies that thwart them.
1812. Cary, Dante’s Par., IV. 89. Another question thwarts thee.
† d. Naut. Of a ship, etc.: To get athwart so as to be foul of. Also intr. Obs.
1809. Naval Chron., XXIV. 23. The boat having thwarted against the moorings. Ibid. (1810), XXIII. 97. The frigate now … thwarted the Lord Keith’s hawse.
1813. Gen. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 107/1. The Amelia twice fell on board the enemy in attempting to thwart his hawse.
† 2. To lay (a thing) athwart or across; to place crosswise; to set or put (things) across each other.
Thwart over thumb (quol. 1522) app. = to cross (one) over the thumbs: see THUMB sb. 5 d.
1522. Skelton, Why not to Court, 197. Thus thwartyng ouer thom, He ruleth all the roste.
1583. Spenser, Virgil’s Gnat, 514. The noble sonne of Telamon … thwarting his huge shield, Them battell bad.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 25 b. Their bils were thwarted crossewise at the end, and with these they would cut an Apple in two at one snap. Ibid., 26 b. The inhabitants make use of divers his Creekes, for griste-milles, by thwarting a bancke from side to side.
1623. Markham, Cheap Husb., I. ii. (1631), 14. Carry your rod … in your right hand, the point either directly upright, or thwarted towards your left shoulder.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VII. 309. They make the signe of the Crosse…, thwarting their two foremost fingers.
3. To cross with a line, streak, band, etc. (Only in pa. pple.) Obs. or arch.
1610. Guillem, Heraldry, III. xiv. (1660), 162. The blacke line on the ridge of all Asses backes, thwarted with the like over both the Shoulders.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., I. 63. Turbants are made like great globes of callico too, and thwarted with roules of the same.
1658. J. Rowland, Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 942. The body all over of a yellow colour, except where it is thwarted with cross streaks or lines.
1861. Temple Bar Mag., II. 256. I saw Vesuvius … thwarted by a golden cloud.
b. To cross-plough; also, to cut crosswise.
1847. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VIII. II. 318. The burnt earth is then spread on the land and thwarted in (that is, ploughed across the direction in which the land is ploughed when laid up in stetches for sowing).
1871. Couch, Hist. Polperro, vi. 117. Land broken for what is thwarted in the Spring.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., s.v. Thurt, Why, ’tis a wo’th vive shillings to thurt thick there butt.
1898. Rider Haggard, in Longm. Mag., Nov., 38. All my three ploughs were at work ‘thwarting’—that is crossploughing—rootland on the Nunnery Farm.
4. To obstruct (a road, course, or passage) with something placed across; to block. Obs. exc. fig.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 65 (1810), 63. The rebellious commons … thwarted the ways with great trees. Ibid., § 269. 278. [A stream] whose course is thwarted with a damm, which we call a wear.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 72. What Dæmon cou’dst thou meet To thwart thy passage and repel thy fleet?
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 58. They met with a six-barred gate that directly thwarted their passage.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., II. 72. They sometimes speed, but often thwart our course.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. v. 60. If no misadventure thwarted his progress.
II. 5. To act or operate in opposition to; to run counter to, to go against; to oppose, hinder. Also absol. Now rare.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1324. Quat-so god bad, ðwerted he it neuer a del.
c. 1430, 1530. [implied in THWARTING vbl. sb. 2 and ppl. a. 2].
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXV. xxxii. 907. Such as might … not sticke to speake their minds franckly, yea, & thwart the king his embassadour.
1675. Bp. Parker, Def. Eccl. Pol., iii. § 15. 298. To what purpose does he so briskly taunt me for thwarting my own Principles.
1676. W. Allen, Address Nonconf., 130. The danger of Schism, and the evil of thwarting publick Laws.
1783. Justamond, trans. Raynal’s Hist. Indies, VII. 379. They had unfortunately been so much thwarted by the winds as to prevent their landing before summer.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xxvi. (1819), 436. General laws, however well set and constituted, often thwart and cross one another.
1811. L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., II. 370. The countess was not always disposed to thwart and vex: a little flattery would soothe her.
b. intr. To speak or act in contradiction or opposition; to be adverse or at variance, to conflict. Const. with. Now rare or Obs.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 59 b. I wyll nat multyplie wordes or thwarte with the.
1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Kath., II. 185. Is’t possible that sisters should so thwart In natiue humours?
1656. Burton’s Diary (1828), I. 15. This clause thwarts with his Highness’s ordinances.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 272. It would thwart with my intended Brevity.
1862. F. Hall, Hindu Philos. Syst., 42. They also accept … the Smṛitis, the Puráṇas, &c., the work of Ṛishis, when those books do not thwart with the Veda.
6. trans. To oppose successfully; to prevent (a person, etc.) from accomplishing a purpose; to prevent the accomplishment of (a purpose); to foil, frustrate, balk, defeat. (The chief current sense.)
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, iv. (1887), 17. He may either proceede at his owne libertie, if nothing withstand him, or may not proceede, if he be thwarted by circunstance.
1641. Earl Monm., trans. Biondi’s Civil Warres, V. 166. The Earle seeing himselfe twharted, resolved to fight.
1697. J. Lewis, Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789), 34. From being sometimes a little thwarted, and thro’ dissatisfaction, she grew sick.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 65, ¶ 6. Perpetual Obstacles … thwarted his Designs.
1803. Dk. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), II. 352. Thus are all our best plans thwarted.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iv. I. 429. The party which had long thwarted him had been beaten down.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 15. But all these good intentions were thwarted by the inherent vice of his position.
