The adjective is derived from Early Middle English thwert, thwerte, thuart, thurt, thurte, thwart, thwarte, twart, twarte, twhart, twhert, twort, þuert, þwerrt, þwert, þwerte, ðwert, borrowed from Old Norse þvert, originally the neuter form of þverr, from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz (altered or influenced by Proto-Germanic *þweraną), from Proto-Germanic *þerh-, probably from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ-.

The English adjective is cognate with Danish tvær, Gothic 𐌸𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍃, Middle Dutch dwers, dwars (modern Dutch dwars), Norwegian tvert, tvært, ofs þweres, dwers (Saterland Frisian twars, Western Frisian dwers, dwerz), Middle Low German dwers, dwars (Low German dwars), Old English þweorh, Old High German twer (Middle High German twer, quer, modern German quer), Swedish tvär. It is related to queer; also Proto-West Germanic *þwerh,

The adverb is derived from Middle English thwert, ywerte; the Middle English Dictionary suggests the adverb was derived from the adjective, while the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the adverb is attested earlier than the adjective.

The verb is derived from Middle English thwerten, thwert, thwarten, þwerten, and further from the adverb and perhaps also the adjective.

Noun sense 1 (“a seat across a boat on which a rower may sit”) may be derived from the adverb or adjective, from the position of the seat across the length of the boat, while noun sense 3 (“(rare) an act of thwarting”) is derived from the verb.

• (RP) IPA: /θwɔːt/
• (America) enPR: thwôrt, IPA: /θwɔɹt/

thwart

1. Placed or situated across something else; cross, oblique, transverse.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 768–773:

     Which elſe to ſeveral Sphears thou muſt aſcribe,
     Mov'd contrarie with thwart obliquities,
     Or ſave the Sun his labour, and that ſwift
     Nocturnal and Diurnal rhomb ſuppos'd,
     Inviſible elſe above all Starrs, the Wheele
     Of Day and Night; […]

2. (figuratively, dated) Of people: having a tendency to oppose; obstinate, perverse, stubborn.

   Synonyms: cross-grained, froward, Thesaurus:obstinate

   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:

     […] harke Nature, heare deere Goddeſſe, ſuſpend thy purpoſe, if thou did'ſt intend to make this creature fruitful into her wombe, conuey ſterility, drie vp in hir the organs of increaſe, and from her derogate body neuer ſpring a babe to honour her, if ſhee muſt teeme, create her childe of ſpleene, that it may liue and bee a thourt diſuetur'd^{[sic – meaning disnatured]} torment to her, […]

   • 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC ↗, folio 11, recto ↗:

     […] and it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churlish[,] thwart, and mutinous; […]

3. (figuratively, dated) Of situations or things: adverse, unfavourable, unlucky.

   Synonyms: unpropitious, untoward, Thesaurus:unlucky

• overthwart
• overthwartly
• overthwartness

• Spanish: atravesado

• Russian: неподдающийся
• Spanish: contestatario

thwart (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Across the direction of travel or length of; athwart, crosswise, obliquely, transversely.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 701–706:

     With adverſe blaſt up-turns them from the South
     Notus and Afer black with thundrous Clouds
     From Serraliona; thwart of theſe as fierce
     Forth ruſh the Levant and the Ponent VVindes
     Eurus and Zephir with their lateral noiſe,
     Sirocco, and Libecchio.

1. (archaic or poetic) Across, athwart.

thwart (thwarts, present participle thwarting; simple past and past participle thwarted)

1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.

   Synonyms: balk#Verb, foil#Verb_2, spoil, cross

   Antonyms: promote

   Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.

   The police thwarted the would-be assassin.

   • 1590, T[homas] L[odge], “Alindas Comfort to Perplexed Rosalynd”, in Rosalynde. Euphues Golden Legacie: […], London: […] Thomas Orwin for T. G[ubbin] and John Busbie, →OCLC ↗; republished [Glasgow]: [ […] Hunterian Club], [1876], →OCLC ↗, folio 13, verso, page 34 ↗:

     If thou grieueſt that beeing the daughter of a Prince, and enuie thwarteth thée with ſuch hard exigents, thinke that royaltie is a faire marke; that Crownes haue croſſes when mirth is in Cottages; that the fairer the Roſe is, the ſooner it is bitten with Catterpillers; […]

   • 1830, Walter Scott, “Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy”, in The Doom of Devorgoil, a Melo-drama; Auchindrane; or, The Ayrshire Tragedy, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Cadell and Company; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC ↗, Act III, scene i, page 309 ↗:

     Hear ye the serf I bred, begin to reckon
     Upon his rights and pleasure! Who am I—
     Thou abject, who am I, whose will thou thwartest?

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗, page 361 ↗:

     Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing); to position crosswise.
3. (transitive, also, figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:hinder

4. (ambitransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or counter to; to cross.

   An arrow thwarts the air.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗, lines 555–557:

     Thither came Uriel, gliding through the Eeven
     On a Sun beam, ſwift as a ſhooting Starr
     In Autumn thwarts the night, […]

• French: contrecarrer, contrarier
• German: durchkreuzen, entgegenwirken, vereiteln, konterkarieren
• Italian: sventare, bloccare
• Portuguese: frustrar, contrariar
• Russian: мешать исполнению (mešát’ ispolnéniju); препя́тствовать
• Spanish: frustrar, contrariar

• Russian: пересекать

thwart (plural thwarts)

1. (nautical) A seat across a boat on which a rower may sit.

   Synonyms: thaught, thawt, thoft

   The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

2. (nautical) A brace, perpendicular to the keel, that helps maintain the beam of a marine vessel against external water pressure and that may serve to support the rail.

   A well-made dugout canoe rarely needs a thwart.

3. (rare) An act of thwarting; something which thwarts; a hindrance, an obstacle.

• French: banc
• German: Ruderbank
• Italian: arcaccia
• Portuguese: banco
• Russian: ба́нка
• Spanish: banco (de remeros) m, bancada

• German: Ducht