traverse

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive), Verb (intransitive), Adjective, Adverb
• HYPHEN: trav=erse

CIDE DICTIONARY

traverse, 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.  [1913 Webster]
"Oak . . . being strong in all positions, may be better trusted in cross and traverse work."  [1913 Webster]
"The ridges of the fallow field traverse."  [1913 Webster]

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.

traverse, adv. 

 Athwart; across; crosswise.  [1913 Webster]

traverse, n. [F. traverse. See Traverse, a.].

•  Anything that traverses, or crosses.  [1913 Webster]

  "Men drinken and the travers draw anon."  [1913 Webster]

  "And the entrance of the king,
  The first traverse was drawn."  [1913 Webster]
•  A turning; a trick; a subterfuge.  [1913 Webster]

To work a traverse or To 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.

traverse, v. t. [Cf. F. traverser. See Traverse, a.].

•  To lay in a cross direction; to cross.  [1913 Webster]

  "The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by the flowing of the folds."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cross by way of opposition; to thwart with obstacles; to obstruct; to bring to naught.  [1913 Webster]

  "I can not but . . . admit the force of this reasoning, which I yet hope to traverse."  [1913 Webster]
•  To wander over; to cross in traveling; as, to traverse the habitable globe.  [1913 Webster]

  "What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought."  [1913 Webster]
•  To pass over and view; to survey carefully.  [1913 Webster]

  "My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles, and properties of this detestable vice -- ingratitude."  [1913 Webster]
•  To turn to the one side or the other, in order to point in any direction; as, to traverse a cannon.  [1913 Webster]
•  To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood; as, to traverse a board.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "And save the expense of long litigious laws,
  Where suits are traversed, and so little won
  That he who conquers is but last undone."  [1913 Webster]

To traverse a yard (Naut.), to brace it fore and aft.

traverse, v. i. 

•  To use the posture or motions of opposition or counteraction, as in fencing.  [1913 Webster]

  "To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  To tread or move crosswise, as a horse that throws his croup to one side and his head to the other.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

traverse, 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.

Derivative

traversable adj. traversal n. traverser n.

Etymology

OF traverser f. LL traversare, transversare (as TRANSVERSE)

THESAURUS

traverse

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

ROGET THESAURUS

traverse

Hindrance

VB hinder, impede, filibuster, impedite, embarrass, keep off, stave off, ward off, obviate, avert, antevert, turn aside, draw off, prevent, forefend, nip in the bud, retard, slacken, check, let, counteract, countercheck, preclude, debar, foreclose, estop, inhibit, shackle, restrict, obstruct, stop, stay, bar, bolt, lock, block, block up, choke off, belay, barricade, block the way, bar the way, stop the way, forelay, dam up, put on the brake, scotch the wheel, lock the wheel, put a spoke in the wheel, put a stop to, traverse, contravene, interrupt, intercept, oppose, hedge in, hedge round, cut off, inerclude, interpose, interfere, intermeddle, cramp, hamper, clog, clog the wheels, cumber, encumber, incumber, handicap, choke, saddle with, load with, overload, lay, lumber, trammel, tie one's hands, put to inconvenience, incommode, discommode, discompose, hustle, corner, drive into a corner, run foul of, fall foul of, cross the path of, break in upon, thwart, frustrate, disconcert, balk, foil, faze, feaze, feeze, baffle, snub, override, circumvent, defeat, spike guns, spoil, mar, clip the wings of, cripple, put an extinguisher on, damp, dishearten, discountenance, throw cold water on, spoil sport, lay a wet blanket, throw a wet blanket on, cut the ground from under one, take the wind out of one's sails, undermine, be in the way of, stand in the way of, act as a drag, hang like a millstone round one's neck.

Counteraction

VB counteract, run counter, clash, cross, interfere with, conflict with, contravene, jostle, go against, run against, beat against, militate against, stultify, antagonize, block, oppose, traverse, withstand, hinder, repress, react, undo, neutralize, counterpoise, overpoise.

Journey

VB travel, journey, course, take a journey, go a journey, take a walk, go out for walk, have a run, take the air, flit, take wing, migrate, emigrate, trek, rove, prowl, roam, range, patrol, pace up and down, traverse, scour the country, traverse the country, peragrate, circumambulate, perambulate, nomadize, wander, ramble, stroll, saunter, hover, go one's rounds, straggle, gad, gad about, expatiate, walk, march, step, tread, pace, plod, wend, go by shank's mare, promenade, trudge, tramp, stalk, stride, straddle, strut, foot it, hoof it, stump, bundle, bowl along, toddle, paddle, tread a path, take horse, ride, drive, trot, amble, canter, prance, fisk, frisk, caracoler, caracole, gallop, embark, board, set out, hit the road, get going, get underway, peg on, jog on, wag on, shuffle on, stir one's stumps, bend one's steps, bend one's course, make one's way, find one's way, wend one's way, pick one's way, pick one's way, thread one's way, plow one's way, slide, glide, coast, skim, skate, march in procession, file on, defile, go to, repair to, resort to, hie to, betake oneself to.

Passage

VB pass, pass through, perforate, penetrate, permeate, thread, thrid, enfilade, go through, go across, go over, pass over, cut across, ford, cross, pass and repass, work, make one's way, thread one's way, worm one's way, force one's way, make a passage form a passage, cut one's way through, find its way, find its vent, transmit, make way, clear the course, traverse, go over the ground.

Negation

VB deny, contradict, contravene, controvert, give denial to, gainsay, negative, shake the head, disown, disaffirm, disclaim, disavow, recant, revoke, dispute, impugn, traverse, rebut, join issue upon, bring in question, call in question, give the lie in his throat, give one the lie in his throat, deny flatly, deny peremptorily, deny emphatically, deny absolutely, deny wholly, deny entirely, give the lie to, belie, repudiate, set aside, ignore, rebut, qualify, refuse, recuse.