athwart
/əˈθwɔɹt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.65 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
From side to side, often in an oblique manner; across or over.
adv
Against the anticipated or appropriate course of something; improperly, perversely, wrongly.
prep
From one side to the other side of; across.
prep
Across; through.
prep
Opposed to.
Example Sentences
- "Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart."
- "We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart, forming a crude cross."
- "In the fore part of his garment vvhich couered his breaſt he vvore pretie taſſels inſteed of buttons, like to thoſe that our Engliſh Souldiers doe vveare about their bandeleers, in vvhich they put their gunnepovvder. Theſe taſſels came dovvne athvvart ouer his breaſt; truely I did invvardly reioyce to ſee his pourtraiture."
- "Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back."
- "[…] Frenzy, fierce-ey'd child of moping pain, / Darts her hot lightning flaſh athvvart the brain."
- "They come, they crowd upon me all at once— / Moved from the cloud of unforgotten things, / That sometimes on the horizon of the mind / Lies unfolded, often sweeps athwart in storm— […]"
Etymology
From Late Middle English athwert, athirt, from a- (prefix meaning ‘in the direction of, toward’) + thwert (“crosswise; (cooking) across the grain”, adverb). Thwert is derived from thwert (“crosswise, transverse; counter, opposing; contrary, obstinate, stubborn”, adjective), borrowed from Old Norse þvert (“across, athwart”), originally the neuter form of þverr (“across, transverse”), from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz (“cross; adverse”) (altered or influenced by Proto-Germanic *þweraną (“to stir; to swirl; to turn”)), from Proto-Germanic *þerh-, probably from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”). The English word is analysable as a- (prefix meaning ‘in the direction of, toward’) + thwart (“placed or situated across something else”). Cognates * Scots athort (“athwart”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈθwɔɹt/
- British English: /əˈθwɔːt/
Inflected Forms
more athwart (comparative)
most athwart (superlative)