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traverse

noun, verb, adv and 1 more — 23 senses

traverse

noun

US /tɹəˈvɝs/ · UK /tɹəˈvɜːs/

Etymology From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

10 senses
  1. 1A route used in mountaineering, specifically rock…
  2. 2A series of points, with angles and distances measured…
  3. 3A screen or partition.
  4. 4Something that thwarts or obstructs.
  5. 5A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of…
  6. 6A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the…
  7. 7The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing…
  8. 8A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal.
  9. 9In trench warfare, a defensive trench built to prevent enfilade.
  10. 10A traverse board.
1

Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A route used in mountaineering, specifically rock climbing, in which the descent occurs by a different route than the ascent.

2

Geography, Natural sciences, Surveying A series of points, with angles and distances measured between, traveled around a subject, usually for use as "control" i.e. angular reference system for later surveying work.

  • At the entrance of the king, the first traverse was drawn, and the lower descent of the mountain discovered, which was the pendant of a hill to life, with divers boscages and grovets upon the steep or hanging grounds thereof.1811, Ben Jonson, The Dramatic Works: Embellished with Portraits, volume 4, page 571:
3

Obsolete A screen or partition.

  • Than sholde ye see there pressynge in a pace / Of one and other that wolde this lady see, / Whiche sat behynde a traves of sylke fyne, / Of golde of tessew the fynest that myghte be […]1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court:
  • At the entrance of the king, / The first traverse was drawn.1613, Francis Beaumont, The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn:
4

Something that thwarts or obstructs.

  • He will succeed, as long as there are no unlucky traverses not under his control.
5

Architecture A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of a church or other large building.

6

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", i.e. without what follows).

7

Nautical, Transport The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course.

8

Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal.

9

Government, Military, Politics, War In trench warfare, a defensive trench built to prevent enfilade.

  • At night, when the Federal guns slowed their fire, the men created new traverses and bombproofs.1994, Stephen R. Wise, Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863, page 160:
10

Nautical, Transport A traverse board.

  • The whole care of the vessel rested, therefore, upon me, and I was obliged to direct her by my former experience, not being able to work a traverse.1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 7, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:
Related terms
girdle traverse, Grand Traverse County, Grand Traverse disease, hand traverse, Little Traverse, traversal, Traverse City, Traverse County, traverse drill, traverse jury, traverse sailing, traverse table, traversive, travis, Tyrolean traverse

traverse

verb

Etymology From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

11 senses
  1. 1To travel across, to go through, to pass through…
  2. 2To visit all parts of; to explore thoroughly.
  3. 3To lay in a cross direction; to cross.
  4. 4To rotate a gun around a vertical axis to bear upon a…
  5. 5To climb or descend a steep hill at a wide angle…
  6. 6To (make a cutting, an incline) across the gradients of…
  7. 7To act against; to thwart or obstruct.
  8. 8To pass over and view; to survey carefully.
  9. 9To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood.
  10. 10To deny formally.
  11. 11To use the motions of opposition or counteraction.
1

To travel across, to go through, to pass through, particularly under difficult conditions.

  • He will have to traverse the mountain to get to the other side.
  • What seas you travers'd, and what fields you fought! / Your country's peace how oft, how dearly bought!1737, Alexander Pope, First Epistle on the Second Book of Horace, lines 396–397; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 197:
2 more examples
  • Here the line is joined by the Colne Valley branch, and both tracks are carried into Haverhill station upon a high embankment from which the town can be seen on the south side. The twin tracks, after traversing a scissors crossover, become the down and up roads through the station, which possesses an extensive goods yard.1951 September, B. D. J. Walsh, “The Sudbury and Haverhill Line, Eastern Region”, in Railway Magazine, page 619:
  • The journey is worth an article in itself, but all I can give is a flavour of a railway which traverses a bleak but dramatic coastline that's regularly battered by the elements - especially around Parton, where the line is constantly threatened by the sea.2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, pages 56–57:
2

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To visit all parts of; to explore thoroughly.

  • to traverse all nodes in a network
3

To lay in a cross direction; to cross.

  • The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by the flowing of the folds.1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
4

Engineering, Government, Military, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Politics, Tools, War, Weaponry To rotate a gun around a vertical axis to bear upon a military target.

  • to traverse a cannon
5

Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To climb or descend a steep hill at a wide angle (relative to the slope).

6

Engineering, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Skiing, Sports To (make a cutting, an incline) across the gradients of a sloped face at safe rate.

  • the road traversed the face of the ridge as the right-of-way climbed the mountain
  • The last run, weary, I traversed the descents in no hurry to reach the lodge.
7

To act against; to thwart or obstruct.

  • The well meaning Prieſt ſuffered him to deceive himſelf, fully determined to traverſe his views, inſtead of ſeconding them.1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter II, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, page 74:
  • I cannot but […] admit the force of this reasoning, which I yet hope to traverse.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
8

To pass over and view; to survey carefully.

  • My purpose is to […] traverse the nature, principles, and properties of this detestable vice—ingratitude.1675, Robert South, Of the odious Sin of Ingratitude (A Sermon preached at Christ-Church, Oxon, October 17, 1675)
9

Business, Carpentry, Construction, Manufacturing To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood.

  • to traverse a board
10

Law To deny formally.

  • Without their coſt, you terminate the cauſe; / And ſave th' expence of long litigious laws: / Where ſuits are travers'd; and ſo little won, / That he who conquers, is but laſt undone: […]a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Epistle the Thirteenth. To My Honoured Kinsman, John Dryden, of Chesterton, in the County of Huntingdon, Esq”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 186:
11

Fencing, Government, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Martial arts, Military, Politics, Sports, War To use the motions of opposition or counteraction.

Derived terms
nontraversing, retraverse, traversable, traversing platform, untraversed

traverse

adv

Etymology From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

1

athwart; across; crosswise

traverse

adj

Etymology From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

1

Lying across; being in a direction across something else.

  • paths cut with traverse trenches
  • Oak […] being strong in all positions, may be better trusted in cross and traverse work.1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC:
1 more example
  • the ridges of the fallow field lay trauersea. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC:
Derived terms
traverse drill, traversely, traversewise

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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