Adjacent Words

Traverse definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TRAV'ERSE, adv. Athwart; crosswise.
The ridges of the field lay traverse.
TRAV'ERSE, prep. [supra.] Through crosswise.
He traverse
The whole battalion views their order due. [Little used.]
TRAV'ERSE, a. [L. versus; transversus.] Lying across; being in a direction across something else; as paths cut with traverse trenches.
Oak--may be trusted in traverse work for summers.
TRAV'ERSE, n. [supra.] Any thing laid or built across.
There is a traverse placed in the loft where she sitteth.
1. Something that thwarts, crosses or obstructs; a cross accident. He is satisfied he should have succeeded, had it not been for unlucky traverses not in his power.
2. In fortification, a trench with a little parapet for protecting men on the flank; also, a wall raised across a work.
3. In navigation, traverse-sailing is the mode of computing the place of a ship by reducing several short courses made by sudden shifts or turns, to one longer course.
4. In law, a denial of what the opposite party has advanced in any state of the pleadings. When the traverse or denial comes from the defendant, the issue is tendered in this manner, "and of this he puts himself on the country." When the traverse lies on the plaintiff, he prays "this may be inquired of by the country."
The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc, without this; that is, without this which follows.
5. A turning; a trick.
TRAV'ERSE, v.t. To cross; to lay in a cross direction.
The parts should be often traversed or crossed by the flowing of the folds.
1. To cross by way of opposition; to thwart; to obstruct.
Frog thought to traverse this new project.
2. To wander over; to cross in traveling; as, to traverse the habitable globe.
What seas you travers'd, and what fields you fought.
3. To pass over and view; to survey carefully.
My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles and properties of this detestable vice, ingratitude.
4. To turn and point in any direction; as, to traverse a cannon.
5. To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood; as, to traverse a board.
6. In law pleadings, to deny what the opposite party has alleged. When the plaintiff or defendant advances new matter, he avers it to be true, and traverses what the other party has affirmed. So to traverse an indictment or an office, is to deny it.
To traverse a yard, in sailing, is to brace it aft.
TRAV'ERSE, v.i. In fencing, to use the posture or motions of opposition or counteraction.
To see thee fight, to see thee traverse--
1. To turn, as on a pivot; to move round; to swivel. The needle of a compass traverses; if it does not traverse well, it is an unsafe guide.
2. In the manege, to cut the tread crosswise, as a horse that throws his croup to one side and his head to the other.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a horizontal beam that extends across something [syn: trave, traverse, crossbeam, crosspiece]
2: a horizontal crosspiece across a window or separating a door from a window over it [syn: transom, traverse]
3: taking a zigzag path on skis [syn: traversal, traverse]
4: travel across [syn: traversal, traverse] v
1: travel across or pass over; "The caravan covered almost 100 miles each day" [syn: traverse, track, cover, cross, pass over, get over, get across, cut through, cut across]
2: to cover or extend over an area or time period; "Rivers traverse the valley floor", "The parking lot spans 3 acres"; "The novel spans three centuries" [syn: cross, traverse, span, sweep]
3: deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a legal suit [syn: traverse, deny]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English travers, from Anglo-French travers (as in a travers, de travers across), from Latin transversum (as in in transversum set crosswise), neuter of transversus lying across; senses 5-9 in part from ²traverse — more at transverse Date: 14th century 1. something that crosses or lies across 2. obstacle, adversity 3. a formal denial of a matter of fact alleged by the opposing party in a legal pleading 4. a. a compartment or recess formed by a partition, curtain, or screen b. a gallery or loft providing access from one side to another in a large building 5. a route or way across or over: as a. a zigzag course of a sailing ship with contrary winds b. a curving or zigzag way up a steep grade c. the course followed in traversing 6. the act or an instance of traversing ; crossing 7. a protective projecting wall or bank of earth in a trench 8. a. a lateral movement (as of the saddle of a lathe carriage); also a device for imparting such movement b. the lateral movement of a gun about a pivot or on a carriage to change direction of fire 9. a line surveyed across a plot of ground II. verb (traversed; traversing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French traverser, from Late Latin transversare, from Latin transversus Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to go against or act in opposition to ; oppose, thwart b. to deny (as an allegation of fact or an indictment) formally at law 2. a. to go or travel across or over b. to move or pass along or through <light rays traversing a crystal> 3. to make a study of ; examine 4. to lie or extend across ; cross <the bridge traverses a brook> 5. a. to move to and fro over or along b. to ascend, descend, or cross (a slope or gap) at an angle c. to move (a gun) to right or left on a pivot 6. to make or carry out a survey of by using traverses intransitive verb 1. to move back and forth or from side to side 2. to move or turn laterally ; swivel 3. a. to climb at an angle or in a zigzag course b. to ski across rather than straight down a hill 4. to make a survey by using traverses • traversable adjective • traverser noun III. adjective Date: 15th century lying across ; transverse

U.S. Military Dictionary

(*) 1. To turn a weapon to the right or left on its mount. 2. A method of surveying in which lengths and directions of lines between points on the earth are obtained by or from field measurements, and used in determining positions of the points

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. travel or lie across (traversed the country; a pit traversed by a beam). 2 tr. consider or discuss the whole extent of (a subject). 3 tr. turn (a large gun) horizontally. 4 tr. Law deny (an allegation) in pleading. 5 tr. thwart, frustrate, or oppose (a plan or opinion). 6 intr. (of the needle of a compass etc.) turn on or as on a pivot. 7 intr. (of a horse) walk obliquely. 8 intr. make a traverse in climbing. --n. 1 a sideways movement. 2 an act of traversing. 3 a thing, esp. part of a structure, that crosses another. 4 a gallery extending from side to side of a church or other building. 5 a a single line of survey, usu. plotted from compass bearings and chained or paced distances between angular points. b a tract surveyed in this way. 6 Naut. a zigzag line taken by a ship because of contrary winds or currents. 7 a skier's similar movement on a slope. 8 the sideways movement of a part in a machine. 9 a a sideways motion across a rock-face from one practicable line of ascent or descent to another. b a place where this is necessary. 10 Mil. a pair of right-angle bends in a trench to avoid enfilading fire. 11 Law a denial, esp. of an allegation of a matter of fact. 12 the act of turning a large gun horizontally to the required direction. Derivatives: traversable adj. traversal n. traverser n. Etymology: OF traverser f. LL traversare, transversare (as TRANSVERSE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Traverse Trav"erse, adv. Athwart; across; crosswise.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Traverse Trav"erse, n. [F. traverse. See Traverse, a.] 1. Anything that traverses, or crosses. Specifically: (a) Something that thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; a cross accident; as, he would have succeeded, had it not been for unlucky traverses not under his control. (b) A barrier, sliding door, movable screen, curtain, or the like. Men drinken and the travers draw anon. --Chaucer. And the entrance of the king, The first traverse was drawn. --F. Beaumont. (c) (Arch.) A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of a church or other large building. --Gwilt. (d) (Fort.) A work thrown up to intercept an enfilade, or reverse fire, along exposed passage, or line of work. (e) (Law) A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings. The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc, without this; that is, without this which follows. (f) (Naut.) The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course. (g) (Geom.) A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal. (h) (Surv.) A line surveyed across a plot of ground. (i) (Gun.) The turning of a gun so as to make it point in any desired direction. 2. A turning; a trick; a subterfuge. [Obs.] To work, or solve, a traverse (Naut.), to reduce a series of courses or distances to an equivalent single one; to calculate the resultant of a traverse. Traverse board (Naut.), a small board hung in the steerage, having the points of the compass marked on it, and for each point as many holes as there are half hours in a watch. It is used for recording the courses made by the ship in each half hour, by putting a peg in the corresponding hole. Traverse jury (Law), a jury that tries cases; a petit jury. Traverse sailing (Naut.), a sailing by compound courses; the method or process of finding the resulting course and distance from a series of different shorter courses and distances actually passed over by a ship. Traverse table. (a) (Naut. & Surv.) A table by means of which the difference of latitude and departure corresponding to any given course and distance may be found by inspection. It contains the lengths of the two sides of a right-angled triangle, usually for every quarter of a degree of angle, and for lengths of the hypothenuse, from 1 to 100. (b) (Railroad) A platform with one or more tracks, and arranged to move laterally on wheels, for shifting cars, etc., from one line of track to another.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Traverse Trav"erse, a. [OF. travers, L. transversus, p. p. of transvertere to turn or direct across. See Transverse, and cf. Travers.] Lying across; being in a direction across something else; as, paths cut with traverse trenches. Oak . . . being strong in all positions, may be better trusted in cross and traverse work. --Sir H. Wotton. The ridges of the fallow field traverse. --Hayward. Traverse drill (Mach.), a machine tool for drilling slots, in which the work or tool has a lateral motion back and forth; also, a drilling machine in which the spindle holder can be adjusted laterally.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Traverse Trav"erse, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Traversed; p. pr. & vb. n. Traversing.] [Cf. F. traverser. See Traverse, a.] 1. To lay in a cross direction; to cross. The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by the flowing of the folds. --Dryden. 2. To cross by way of opposition; to thwart with obstacles; to obstruct; to bring to naught. I can not but . . . admit the force of this reasoning, which I yet hope to traverse. --Sir W. Scott. 3. To wander over; to cross in traveling; as, to traverse the habitable globe. What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought. --Pope. 4. To pass over and view; to survey carefully. My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles, and properties of this detestable vice -- ingratitude. --South. 5. (Gun.) To turn to the one side or the other, in order to point in any direction; as, to traverse a cannon. 6. (Carp.) To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood; as, to traverse a board. 7. (Law) To deny formally, as what the opposite party has alleged. When the plaintiff or defendant advances new matter, he avers it to be true, and traverses what the other party has affirmed. To traverse an indictment or an office is to deny it. And save the expense of long litigious laws, Where suits are traversed, and so little won That he who conquers is but last undone. --Dryden. To traverse a yard (Naut.), to brace it fore and aft.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Traverse Trav"erse, v. i. 1. To use the posture or motions of opposition or counteraction, as in fencing. To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse. --Shak. 2. To turn, as on a pivot; to move round; to swivel; as, the needle of a compass traverses; if it does not traverse well, it is an unsafe guide. 3. To tread or move crosswise, as a horse that throws his croup to one side and his head to the other.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(traverses, traversing, traversed) If someone or something traverses an area of land or water, they go across it. (LITERARY) I traversed the narrow pedestrian bridge. = cross VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. ad. Athwart, crosswise, cross. II. a. Lying across, cross. III. v. a. 1. Cross, lay athwart, thwart. 2. Thwart, obstruct, cross in opposition, counteract, frustrate, defeat, contravene. 3. Pass, travel over, wander over, cross in travelling, go across, pass through. 4. Pass over and view, survey carefully, examine thoroughly. 5. (Law.) Deny, plead "not guilty" to.

Moby Thesaurus

across, across the grain, athwart, athwartships, bar, be at cross-purposes, be contrary to, belie, boat, bridge, buck, call into question, canoe, carry sail, challenge, check, circumnavigate, coast, combat, conflict with, consider, contemplate, contest, contradict, contrariwise, contravene, contrawise, controvert, counter, counteract, countervail, counterwork, course, cover, crisscross, cross, cross bitt, cross-grained, crossarm, crossbar, crosscut, crossing, crosspiece, crossway, crossways, crosswise, cruciate, cruise, cut across, decussate, deny, disaffirm, dismiss, dispute, do, doubletree, duel, examine, fight, gainsay, go across, go against, go by ship, go on shipboard, go over, go to sea, hurdle, impediment, impugn, inspect, intercross, intersect, investigate, join the opposition, lie across, look at, look into, look over, make a passage, measure, motorboat, navigate, negate, negative, not abide, oblique, obliquely, observe, obstruct, obstruction, oppose, oppugn, overpass, overthwart, pace, pass over, pass through, patrol, perambulate, peregrinate, pererrate, play at cross-purposes, ply, protest, quarter, range, range over, rebut, reconnoiter, reject, repel, resist, review, roam, row, rub, run, run against, run counter to, sail, sail round, sail the sea, scan, scour, scour the country, scout, scrutinize, scull, seafare, sideways, sidewise, singletree, snag, squash, squelch, steam, steamboat, study, stumbling block, survey, sweep, swingletree, take a voyage, take issue with, thwart, thwartly, thwartways, tour, track, tramp, transept, transit, transom, transversal, transverse, transversely, travel over, travel through, tread, vote against, voyage, walk, wander, whippletree, withstand, yacht