English

Verb

thwart ‎(third-person singular simple present thwarts, present participle thwarting, simple past and past participle thwarted)

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

   The police thwarted the would-be assassin.‎

   Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the thunderstorm.‎

   • ?1662 November 24th, Robert South, “Genesis i. 27. So God created Man in his own Image, in the Image of God created He him.” in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occaſions (fifth edition, 1722), volume I, sermon ii, page 60:

     The Underſtanding and Will never diſagreed; for the Propoſals of the one never thwarted the Inclinations of the other.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] 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.

   • 2004, Peter Bondanella, Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos, chapter 4, 231–232:

     The film ends with the colorful deaths of Nico's enemies after he thwarts their attempts to assassinate a U.S. Senator investigating ties between drug dealers and the CIA.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:

     More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.

   • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:

     Everton were now firmly on the back foot and it required some sharp work from Johnny Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to thwart Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen.

2. (obsolete) To move across or counter to; to cross.

   An arrow thwarts the air.‎

   • John Milton (1608-1674)

     Swift as a shooting star / In autumn thwarts the night.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:hinder
• foil, frustrate, impede, spoil

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

thwart ‎(plural thwarts)

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

   A well made doughout canoe rarely needs a thwart.

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

   The fisherman sat on the aft thwart to row.

Related terms

• beam

Translations

Adjective

thwart ‎(comparative more thwart, superlative most thwart)

1. Situated or placed across something else; transverse; oblique.
   • Milton

     Moved contrary with thwart obliquities.

   • William Morris

     ... wall of forty feet space endlong and over-thwart.

1. (figuratively) Perverse; crossgrained.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

   • Francis Bacon

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

Translations

Adverb

thwart ‎(not comparable)

1. Obliquely; transversely; athwart.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

Translations

References

1. ↑ “thwart” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).