thwart Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a crosspiece spreading the gunnels of a boat; used as a seat in a rowboat
    cross thwart.
  2. verb hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
    bilk; cross; frustrate; baffle; foil; spoil; queer; scotch.
    • What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge
    • foil your opponent

WordNet

Thwart adjective
Etymology
OE. wart, wert, a. and adv., Icel. vert, neut. of verr athwart, transverse, across; akin to AS. weorh perverse, transverse, cross, D. dwars, OHG. dwerah, twerh, G. zwerch, quer, Dan. & Sw. tver athwart, transverse, Sw. tvär cross, unfriendly, Goth. waírhs angry. Cf. Queer.
Definitions
  1. Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
    Moved contrary with thwart obliquities. Milton.
  2. Fig.: Perverse; crossgrained. Obs. Shak.
Thwart adverb
Etymology
See Thwart, a.
Definitions
  1. Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart. Obs. Milton.
Thwart preposition
Definitions
  1. Across; athwart. Spenser.
Thwart noun
Definitions
  1. (Naut.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat.
Thwart transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Thwarted; present participle & verbal noun Thwarting
Definitions
  1. To move across or counter to; to cross; as, an arrow thwarts the air. Obs.
    Swift as a shooting star In autumn thwarts the night. Milton.
  2. To cross, as a purpose; to oppose; to run counter to; to contravene; hence, to frustrate or defeat.
    If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. Shak.
    The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other. South.
Thwart intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To move or go in an oblique or crosswise manner. R.
  2. Hence, to be in opposition; to clash. R.
    Any proposition . . . that shall at all thwart with internal oracles. Locke.

Webster 1913