Traverse | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Trā'verse, adv.

adverb

adv. [See TRAVERSE, a.] Athwart; crosswise.

The ridges of the field lay traverse. Hayward.

☞ This word is never used as a preposition, although given as such in many dictionaries. The error, which has been followed by many succeeding lexicographers, appears to have originated with Dr. Johnson, who was evidently misled by the wrong punctuation of the following passage, which was cited by him as illustrating the use of the word as a preposition.

He through the armed files Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse The whole battalion views their order due, Their visages and statures as of gods. Milton.

In some editions a semicolon is placed after views; but in most modern editions a comma stands after it, and this is considered to be the correct punctuation, making the passage read thus:—

He through the armed files Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse The whole battalion views, their order due, Their visages and statures as of gods. Milton.

Trăv'erse, a.

adjective

(Synop., §130), a. [O. Fr. & Pr. travers, transvers, Sp. transverso, trasverso, travieso, It. trasverso, Lat. transversus, p. p. of transvertere, to turn or direct across, from trans, across, and vertere, to turn.] Lying across; being in a direction across something else; as, paths cut with traverse trenches. Oak . . . may be trusted in traverse work. Wotton.

Trā'verse, n.

noun

n. [Fr. traverse, Pr. & It. traversa, Pg. travessa, Sp. travesia.] 1. Any thing that traverses or crosses; especially, (a.) Something that thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; a cross accident; as, he is satisfied he should have succeeded, had it not been for unlucky traverses not in his power. (b.) A barrier, or sliding door, or movable screen, or curtain. At the entrance of the king, The first traverse was drawn. Beau. (c.) (Arch.) A gallery or loft of communication in a church or other large building. Gwill. (d.) (Fort.) A work thrown up to intercept an enfilade, or reverse fire, along any line of work or passage exposed to such a fire. (e.) (Law.) A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings. The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc, without this; that is, without this which follows. (f.) (Naut.) The series of changing or zigzag courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course. (g.) (Geom.) A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal. Math. Dict. (h.) (Gun.) The turning a gun so as to make it point in any desired direction. 2. A turning; a trick. [Obs.] To work, or solve, a traverse (Naut.), to reduce a series of courses or distances to an equivalent single one; to calculate the resultant of a traverse.—Traverse jury (Law), a jury that tries cases; a petit-jury.

Trăv'erse, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TRAVERSED (trăv'l-erst); p. pr. & vb. n. TRAVERSING.] [Fr. traverser, Pr. traversar, Sp. travesar, It. traversare.] 1. To lay in a cross direction; to cross. The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by the flowing of the folds. Dryden. 2. To cross by way of opposition; to thwart; to obstruct. I can not but admit the force of this reasoning, which I yet hope to traverse by the following considerations. W. Scott.

To wander over; to cross in traveling; as, to traverse the habitable globe. “What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought.” Pope.
To pass over and view; to survey carefully.

My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles, and properties of this detestable vice—ingratitude. South.

(Gun.) To turn to the one side or the other, in order to point in any direction; as, to traverse a cannon.
(Carp.) To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood; as, to traverse a board.
(Law Pleadings.) To deny formally, as, what the opposite party has alleged. When the plaintiff or defendant advances new matter, he avers it to be true, and traverses what the other party has affirmed. So, to traverse an indictment or an office is to deny it.

To traverse a yard (Naut.), to brace it aft.

Träv'erse, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To use the posture or motions of opposition or counteraction, as in fencing. “To see thee fight, to see thee traverse.” Shak. 2. To turn, as on a pivot; to move round; to swivel; as, the needle of a compass traverses; if it does not traverse well, it is an unsafe guide. 3. (Man.) To tread or move crosswise, as a horse that throws his croup to one side and his head to the other.