v. t.
n. A heavy blow with something flat or heavy; a thump. [ 1913 Webster ]
With many a stiff thwack, many a bang,
Hard crab tree and old iron rang. Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. (Zool.) The twaite. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ CF. Icel. þveit a piece of land, fr. þvīta to cut. See Thwite, and cf. Doit, and Twaite land cleared of woods. ] Forest land cleared, and converted to tillage; an assart. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
☞ Thwaite occurs in composition as the last element in many names of places in the north of England; as, in Rosthwaite, Stonethwaite. [ 1913 Webster ]
adv. [ See Thwart, a. ] Thwartly; obliquely; transversely; athwart. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i.
Any proposition . . . that shall at all thwart with internal oracles. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. (Naut.) A seat in an open boat reaching from one side to the other, or athwart the boat. [ 1913 Webster ]
prep. Across; athwart. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]
Thwart ships.
v. t.
Swift as a shooting star
In autumn thwarts the night. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
If crooked fortune had not thwarted me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
The proposals of the one never thwarted the inclinations of the other. South. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. [ OE. þwart, þwert, a. and adv., Icel. þvert, neut. of þverr athwart, transverse, across; akin to AS. þweorh perverse, transverse, cross, D. dwars, OHG. dwerah, twerh, G. zwerch, quer, Dan. & Sw. tver athwart, transverse, Sw. tvär cross, unfriendly, Goth. þwaírhs angry. Cf. Queer. ]
Moved contrary with thwart obliquities. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]