a·thwart

(ə-thwôrt′)

prep.

1. From one side to the other of; across: "the Stars that shoot athwart the Night" (Alexander Pope).

2. Contrary to; against.

3. Nautical Across the course, line, or length of.

adv.

1. From side to side; crosswise or transversely.

2. So as to thwart, obstruct, or oppose; perversely.

[Middle English : a-, on; see a-² + thwert, across; see thwart.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

athwart

(əˈθwɔːt)

adv

transversely; from one side to another

prep

1. across the path or line of (esp a ship)

2. in opposition to; against

[C15: from a-² + thwart]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

a•thwart

(əˈθwɔrt)

adv.

1. from side to side; crosswise.

2. perversely; awry; wrongly.

prep.

3. from side to side of; across.

4. in opposition to; contrary to.

[1425–75]

athwart

Across the width of a boat.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.	1.	athwart - at right angles to the center line of a ship
	2.	athwart - at an oblique angle; "the sun shone aslant into his face" aslant, obliquely

Translations

athwart

[əˈθwɔːt]

A. ADV → de través, al través

B. PREP → a través de

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

athwart

adv → quer; (Naut) → dwars

prep → quer über; (Naut) → dwars, quer

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Is all our Life, then but a dream Seen faintly in the goldern gleam Athwart Time's dark resistless stream?

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Leave tenantless thy crystal home, and fly, With all thy train, athwart the moony sky -

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Themistocles made Xerxes, king of Persia, post apace out of Grecia, by giving out, that the Grecians had a purpose to break his bridge of ships, which he had made athwart Hellespont.

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He did not finish; the thunder of a distant cannon rolled athwart the waves, another, and two or three still louder.

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At that moment the mysterious illumination suddenly flared to an intense, an almost blinding splendor, flushing the entire sky, extinguishing the stars and throwing the monstrous shadow of himself athwart the landscape.

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Black shadows of bordering trees lay athwart the road, which, in the short reaches between, gleamed a ghostly white.

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Athwart the bed I watch the moonbeams cast a trail So bright, so cold, so frail, That for a space it gleams Like hoar-frost on the margin of my dreams.

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And in the moon athwart the place of tombs, Where lay the mighty bones of ancient men, Old knights, and over them the sea-wind sang Shrill, chill, with flakes of foam.

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The little house folk lived much in it, and were given to taking picnic suppers in the grassy corner beyond the brook and sitting about in it through the twilights when great night moths sailed athwart the velvet gloom.

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About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men which he had on board.

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She had not time to run, but she did what answered just as well; she promptly drew a lithe young willow bough athwart her white body with one hand, and then contemplated us with a simple and untroubled interest.

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And while I suffer thus, there comes no ray Of hope to gladden me athwart the gloom; Nor do I look for it in my despair; But rather clinging to a cureless woe, All hope do I abjure for evermore.

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