Now rare. [a. OF. transverser (13th c. in Godef.) = med.L. transvers-āre (Du Cange) to cross, f. L. transvers-, ppl. stem of transvertĕre: see TRANSVERT.]
1. trans. To pass or lie athwart or across; to cross, traverse. rare.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IX. x. (MS. Bodl. 263), 417/1. Ther shon wer … Richeli transuersed with gold weer.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, 7. In Latin: musculi transuersi: Bycause they transuerse or ouerthwart the belly.
1873. Mivart, Elem. Anat., x. 413. The internal carotid transverses the petrous part of the temporal bone.
† b. fig. To act or speak in opposition to; to cross, thwart; in Law = TRAVERSE v. 12. Obs.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. ii. (Skeat), l. 195. I trowe the strongest and the best that maie bee founde, woll not transuers thy wordes.
1628. Sir S. D’Ewes, Jrnl. (1783), 45. He was presentlie transversed and over-ruled by his flatterers.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. s.v., To transverse an Indictment, is to take Issue upon the chief Matter, and to contradict or deny some Point of it.
1769. R. Cumberland, Brothers, II. ii. That perverse hussey … threatens to transverse all my hopes.
† c. intr. fig. To go across or athwart; to run counter; to transgress against. Obs. rare.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 284. Ac trewth þat trespassed neuere, ne transuersed aȝeines his lawe. Ibid. (1393), C. IV. 449. And ho so takeþ aȝen treuthe oþer transuerseþ aȝens reson Leaute shal do hym lawe.
2. trans. To turn upside down or backwards; to overturn, turn topsy-turvy. Now rare or Obs.
c. 1520. Barclay, Jugurth (1557), 18. As if thei wer belies of ships transversed or turned vp set downe.
1643. Howell, Parables on Times, Ep. Ded. 2. These sad confusions which have so unhing’d, distorted, transvers’d, tumbled and dislocated all things.
1738. Whitefield, in Life & Jrnls. (1756), 50. I could not but transverse the Prodigal’s Complaint: How many are ready to perish with hunger, whilst I have enough and to spare.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xiv. In love, it is said, all stratagems are fair, and many little ladies transverse the axiom by applying it to discover the secrets of their friends.
b. To convert into something different; to alter, transform. (Cf. TRANSVERSE v.2)
1687. Prior & Montagu (title), The Hind and the Panther Transvers’d To the Story of The Country-Mouse and the City-Mouse.
c. 1700. Sir J. Montague in N. & Q., 7th Ser. (1889), VIII. 430/1. Making several essays to transverse … other parts of the poem.
1702. Modesty Mistaken, 5. Having transvers’d the two famous Lines of Sir J. Denham to the scandal of Bottled Ale.
Hence Transversed ppl. a., placed crosswise, crossing, transverse.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 85. His heav’nly Banner … Wrought with direct and with transversed Rays.
