athwart

Meanings

1. 1
   prep

   from one side of something to the other; across, often at an oblique angle

   A dark ridge stood athwart the western sky.

2. 2
   adv

   across a path or direction, especially so as to obstruct or oppose it

   The disabled vessel drifted athwart and blocked the narrow channel.

From late Middle English a-thwart, combining a- ("in, on, toward") with thwart, "across or transverse." Thwart comes from Old Norse thvert, the neuter form of thverr ("crosswise"). The physical sense "across" also produced the figurative idea of crossing or opposing someone's course.

Topics