| 释义 |
▪ I. traverse, n.|ˈtrævəs, trəˈvɜːs|
Forms: 3–7 trauers, 4–8 travers, (4, 6 trau-, traverce, 5 traverss, 5–6 trau-, travarse), 5–7 trauerse, 5– traverse. Also β. 5 travas, -vass, 5–6 trevass, 5–7 trauas; 5 trauest, trevesse, 5–6 traves, 5–8 treves, 6 traues, 6–7 travess, traveis, trau-, travesse; 5–7 travis, 6 trevis, trevys, 6–7 trauyce, traviss, 6–8 travice, 7 trauis, -ise. See also travis, trevis.
[Represents two OF. ns., travers masc. (11th c.), and traverse fem. (12th c.), which, through the loss or misuse of final e, have fallen together in Eng. F. travers (dial. travais, travars, travé, in Prov. travers, Cat. traves, Pg. traves = It. traverso) is:—pop.L. trāversum, for L. transversum, neuter of transversus, transverse a. F. traverse (Prov. traversa, Cat., Pg. travessa, It. traversa) is, according to Hatz.-Darm., chiefly from traverser traverse v., but in some uses it appears to represent a late L. trāversa n. fem. from pa. pple. of transvertĕre to transvert. From the falling together of these words under the current form traverse, and the rise in English of many new senses, it is not possible to distinguish the senses which belong etymologically to F. travers from those which belong to F. traverse.]
I. The action of traverse v. in a local sense.
1. The act of passing through a gate, or crossing a river, bridge, or other place forming a boundary (obs.): represented in quots. only by the sense, A toll paid on crossing the bounding-line of a town or lordship; = passage 5. Obs. exc. Hist.
Also called toll traverse: see toll n.1 2 g.
[1284Chanc. Inq. P.M. Edw. I 40/6 (Norf.) (P.R.O.) De quadam consuetudine que vocatur travers et valet per annum 3s. 1292Britton i. xx. §1 Soit ausi enquis, quels del counté cleyment..de aver lestage..ou travers, ou toluen. [Note, Traverse, a toll paid for passing through the limits of a town or lordship.] 1347Inq. P.M. Edw. III, File 86 (Norfolk Inq.) Est apud Brandone quedam custuma vocata ‘travers’ que est parcella manerii de Thefford. ]1598Kitchin Courts Leet (1675) 208 To have toll Travers is good. 1636,1670[see toll n.1 2 g]. 1754T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich, etc. 134 note, Robert FitzRogers had customary Travers for Passage through Blythburgh and Walberswick. 1852Hull Shipping Dues Act 2209 Certain tolls called..Toll Traverse. 1911[see toll n.1 2 g].
2. The action of traversing, passing across, or going through (a region, etc.); passage, crossing: orig. from side to side, but soon also from end to end, or in any course. Also fig. [= OF. travers, F. traverse.]
1599Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vi. 199 Thinkst thou that I..will once vouchsafe to trip A Pauins traverse? 1642Rogers Naaman 89 He led them a traverse of fourty yeares. 1658Phillips, Advt., Some Critticks perhaps will expect the names of Authours in the traverse of this Worke to be often set down. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 314 They were one-and-twenty days in this traverse. 1806Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 67 In making a traverse of the lake, some of my men had their ears, some their noses, and their chins frozen. 1808Ibid. ii. 189, I determined to attempt the traverse of the mountain. 1902Speaker 2 Aug. 485/1 He completed his traverse of Persia from north to south. 1904P. Fountain Gt. North-West vii. 61 When a bay or inlet is come to, the crew [of the canoe]..like to strike straight across from headland to headland. In the technical language of the voyageurs this is termed making a traverse. 1907G. D. Abraham Complete Mountaineer 476 Traverse... Also used to define a climb up one side of a peak and down the other.
3. Surveying. A single line of survey carried across a region or through a narrow strip of country, by measuring the lengths and azimuths of a connected series of straight lines; used either where there is no general trigonometrical survey, or in filling up the details of one. Also, a tract of country so surveyed.
1804M. Lewis in Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1905) VI. 232 A Circumferentor..has also been employed in taking the traverse of the river. 1881Geikie in Nature 6 Jan. 224/2 In about three months the traverses for the construction of the map were completed. Ibid. 225/1 The geological structure of different traverses of the country. 1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 706/1 In Indian Survey..the traverses are executed in minor circuits following the periphery of each village and in major circuits comprising groups of several villages. 1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Survey. x. 195 Traverses made in connection with topographic mapping are of several degrees of accuracy.
4. The traversing or continuous tracing of a geometrical figure or part of one: see traverse v. 2 b.
1905J. C. Wilson Traversing Geometr. Figures i. §2. 6 A traverse must exhaust the point at which it ends: for if any path from it were left untraversed, the traverse would leave the point by the path, and so it would not be the point at which the traverse ends. Ibid. §9. 16 If the first traverse is a single path, that will be the characteristic of the whole traverse chosen.
†5. Fencing. The action or an act of traversing: see traverse v. 5, 15. Also fig. Obs.
1547Hooper Declar. Christ xii. L vij, Marke the trauyce and pley betwene the law of God, and the conscience of Paule. 1599G. Silver Paradoxes Defence 61–2 This Cob was a great quareller..and..was sure by the cunning of his Trauerse, not to be hurt by anie man: for at anie time finding himselfe ouermatched would suddenly turne his backe and runne away... And this..was called Cobs Trauerse. 1599Marston Sco. Villanie iii. ii. 225 Each gallant he doth meete He fronts him with a trauerse in the streete. 1706Farquhar Recruit. Officer iii. ii, [Direction] Plume and Brazen fight a traverse or two about the stage.
6. Mountaineering. An act of traversing or making one's way in a horizontal direction across the face of a mountain or rock (see traverse v. 21); also concr. a place where a traverse is made.
1893C. Wilson Mountaineering vi. 88 Short traverses are often difficult; you ascend a gully..as far as possible; and, when progress by that avenue is..barred, a traverse is undertaken to the left or the right. Ibid. 90 We eventually accomplished the ascent by a long traverse which led round a corner and on to broken rocks. 1897O. G. Jones Rock-climbing 113 Three o'clock found us still working westwards on the traverse. 1900Dent Mountaineering 438 Traverse, sometimes used substantively to denote a surface of rock, snow, or ice that has to be crossed horizontally.
II. Senses denoting (or connected with) non-physical action (opposition, thwarting, or the like).
7. Something that crosses, thwarts, or obstructs; opposition; an obstacle, impediment; a trouble, vexation; a mishap; misfortune, adversity; pl. crosses. Now rare. [OF. travers.]
1390Gower Conf. III. 384 His nature is so divers, That it hath evere som travers Or of to moche or of to lite. 1530Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 402 Quhate trauers, troubyll, and calamitie Haith bene in courte within thir houndreth ȝeris! 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 2 In the very nick of time (a strange traverse of Providence) dyes Pope Gregory, whose death put all to a stand. 1670Cotton Espernon i. i. 34 He could not overcome those traverses, and difficulties, that his Majesties enemies still strew'd in his way. 1703Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 252 It is my lot to meet with traverses and disappointments. 1814Wordsw. Excursion iii. ad. fin., Like traverses and toils Must he again encounter. 1900Morley Cromwell iii. 48 In days of fierce duress, of endless traverses and toils.
8. Law. The traversing or formal denial in pleading of some matter of fact alleged by the other side; also, a plea consisting of this; also, ? a case in which a traverse is pleaded.
1429in Calr. Doc. rel. Scotl. (1888) 405 For declaracion of traverss made or to be made be assise. 1459Rolls of Parlt. V. 371/1 Jugement [was] yeven for the Kyng, in the said traverse. 1542–3Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 5 §15 Vntill the saide office be lawfully vndone by trauers or otherwyse. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xxiii. (1739) 41 That King put a Judge to death, for sentencing one to suffer death upon the Coroner's record, without allowing the Delinquent liberty of Traverse. 1780Burke Sp. Econ. Reform Wks. III. 247 His plea or traverse may be allowed as an answer to a charge, when a charge is made. 1824H. J. Stephen Pleading 215 It is laid down as a rule that a traverse must not be taken upon matter of law. 1911Odgers Comm. Law Eng. v. xvii. II. 1214 The contradiction in terms of an allegation in the preceding pleading is technically known as a ‘traverse’.
transf.1575Laneham Let. (1871) 17 If the dog in pleadyng woold pluk the bear by the throte, the bear with trauers woould claw him again by the skalp. a1662Heylin Laud ii. 261 There was no Traverse to be made to this Dilemma. 1877Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 293 It is enough to meet them by a direct traverse, throwing the burden of proof upon them.
†9. A dispute, controversy. at, in traverse: in debate, in dispute. Obs.
c1410Lydg. Life our Lady in MS. Soc. Antiq. 134 lf. 18 (Halliw.) Whanne they were at travers of thise thre, Everiche holdynge his opinioun. c1448in Rec. City Norwich (1906) 345 The pryour of Norwich that tyme being in travers with the said meir and comonalte. c1490Paston Lett. III. 366 The matier depending in travers bitwixt the saide parties. 1524in J. H. Glover Kingsthorpiana (1883) 64 The forseid land and grownds now in traves. 1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1558) 27 If there bee a trauers in lawe: you shall rather defende your kinsman and frende than your neighbour. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxiv. §279 The LL. Generals..would heare of no composition but for the Merchants ships onely, which whilest it was in trauise to and fro [etc.]. 1651Howell Venice 2 These traverses twixt Saint Peter and Saint Mark could never shake Venice in the main of the Roman Religion.
†10.
a. ? = passage n. 13 c. Obs.
1599Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 25 The firste day of maye we saw there greatest traverses or sportes that they have in all the yeare. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxix. 315 The fooleries, trickes, traverses, and pleasant sportes they make when they are taught. 1643J. M. Soveraigne Salve 11 The malignant traverses of our Calumniators.
†b. ? A passage from a discourse or writing. Obs.
1608Panke Fall of Babel 56 He must needes meane by their own trauises out of him that Christ both spake and meant the bread when he said this is my body.
III. Senses denoting way across, crossing, way, path, track, course.
11. a. A passage by which one may traverse or cross; a way, pass; a crossing.
a1678Marvell Poems, Appleton Ho. 17 The field In whose new traverse seemeth wrought A camp of battle newly fought. 1773A. Grant Lett. fr. Mount. (1807) I. viii. 66, I have got cold in these meadowy traverses. 1805Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 22 The storm..burst upon us, in the Traverse, while making to Point de Sable. 1892W. Pike North. Canada 25 We put out..to paddle across the open traverse to the first of a group of islands.
b. Arch. (See quot.)
1842–76Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss., Traverse, a gallery or loft of communication in a church or other large building.
12. Naut.
a. The zigzag track of a vessel sailing against the wind; with a and pl., each of the runs made by a ship in tacking.
1594J. Davis Seaman's Secr. (1607) 46 A Travers is the varietie of the ships motion vpon euery alteration of Corses. 1644H. Manwayring Sea-Mans Dict. 109 We call the way of the Ship (in respect of the points whereon we saile, and the Angles which the Ship makes in going to, and againe) the travers of the Ship. 1676Wood Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 156 Courses per Traverse; true Course Protracted, with all impediments allowed, is North 43 d. 1762Gentl. Mag. Mar. 99/1 This distance..may be increased tenfold by traverses which vessels must..make on such occasions. 1834Nat. Philos. III. Navig. i. ii. §17 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.) She will be found one mile to the west of that place at the end of the traverse, for the total amount of westings exceeds the eastings by one mile.
β1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 46 Agreeing so well with his Travisses at Sea. 1669[see traverse-scale].
b. = traverse-board: see 23. ? Obs.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 11 Vpon the Bittacle is also the Trauas, which is a little round boord full of holes..vpon which..they keepe an account, how many glasses they steare vpon euery point.
c. transf. Each lap, length, or pli of a zigzag ascending road.
1731Gentl. Mag. Nov. 488/1 The Descent..is now firm, smooth and gradual, by 17 Traverses. 1775Johnson West. Islands Wks. X. 353 We mounted by a military road cut in traverses.
IV. Concrete senses denoting something placed or extending across.
In these the popular forms traves, -is, etc., were very frequent: cf. travis, trevis.
13. a. A curtain or screen placed crosswise, or drawn across a room, hall, or theatre; also, a partition of wood, a screen of lattice-work, or the like. Obs. exc. Hist.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iii. 625 (674) Here after soone The voyde dronke, and trauers [v.r. traueres] drawe anoon. c1386― Merch. T. 573 Men drynken and the trauers [v.r. trauys] drawe anon. 1474in Househ. Ord. (1790) 28 We will that our sayd sonne in this chamber and for all nighte lyverye to be sette, the traverse drawne anone upon eight of the clocke. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xvii. (Arb.) 51 The floore..had in it sundrie little diuisions by curteins as trauerses to serue for seueral roomes where they might..change their garments. 1605B. Jonson Volpone v. iii. [Stage direct.] Volpone peeps from behinde a trauerse. 1700Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. i. iii. 55 Parted in the middle by a Travers of Wood. 1870Rock Text. Fabr. Introd. vii. 143 At top of and all along the travers ran the minstrel-gallery.
β1423Jas. I Kingis Q. lxxxii, Ryght ouerthwert the chamber was there drawe A trevesse thin and quhite. c1440Promp. Parv. 499/2 Trauas, transversum. 1480Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 126 For making of ij travasses of grene sarsinett..iij s. 1488Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 100 For vij elne of tartar to a trevass. 1503Ibid. II. 203 For xvj elne taffeti to be ane trevis to the Kingis bed. 1547Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 263 One traves for hir chamber of grene sarcenett and reide. 1613Beaumont Masque Inner T. Argt., The fabricke was a mountaine with two descents, and severed with two travesses.
b. fig.
1609Daniel Civ. Wars viii. lxxxviii, He drawes a Trauerse 'twixt his greeuances. 1655Fuller Ornithol. (1867) 261 It is the hanging of such Curtains and Traverses before our Deeds which keep up our Reputation.
14. A small compartment shut off or enclosed by a curtain or screen in a church, house, etc.; a closet. arch.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 473 Vpon a Saterdaye, the .xiiii. daye of the moneth of Octobre, both kynges beynge in .ii. trauersys, and in one chapell at Caleys, a masse was said before them. 1527in Fiddes Wolsey (1726) ii. 201 To the high alter wheare on the south side was ordeyned a goodlie travers for my Lord Cardinal. 1602Segar Hon. Mil. & Civ. iv. xxii. 240 All Viscountesses may haue their gownes borne vp by a man... Also they may haue a Trauerse in their owne houses. 1633Dell in Ceremon. Coronat. Jas. I (1685) 15 A little Traverse is to be made on the South side of the Altar.., for the King to..disrobe himself. 1902Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 5/2 The King [Edward VII] went into his traverse and was there disrobed of his Imperial Mantle or Robe of State. Ibid., In St. Edward's Chapel ‘traverses’, or dressing-rooms, had been curtained off for the use of the King and Queen.
β1526St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 172 Aftyr his first Masse was done, I wente unto hym, withyn his travesse. 1536Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 46 The King..then went into the traves that was made for him at the alters end. 1559Fabyan's Chron. an. 1554. 562*/2 She [Q. Mary] went into a traueis [Strype traverse] made on the right side, and he into an other on the left side. 1593in Hardman Prayer-Bk. (1890) 71 Her Majestie [Q. Elizabeth] entered her travess. 1605Ibid. 157 Travase.
†15. A bar or barrier across anything; in quot. 1759 = bar n.1 15. Obs.
1575Churchyard Chippes (1817) 152 With baskets big, and things to serue the turne A crosse the streete, a trauers made there was. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 137 The Communion Table..to be placed at the East end,..with..a woodden traverse of railes before it, to keep Profanation off. 1700Floyer Hot & Cold Bath. i. iii. (1706) 58 [Baptisteries] were parted in the middle by a Travers of Wood. 1759Adm. Holmes in Naval Chron. July (1810) XXIV. 117 The Dublin and Medway got over the traverse [in the River St. Lawrence].
16. Fortif. A barrier or barricade thrown across an approach, the line of fire, etc. as a defence; spec. (pl.) parapets of earth raised at intervals across the terreplein of a rampart or the covered way of a fortress, to prevent its being enfiladed [= OF. traverse.]; a pair of right-angled bends in a trench for protection against enfilading fire.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. 81 The captaine caused to make the traverses upon the wall whereas the breach was. 1602Ld. Mountjoy Let. in Moryson Itin. (1617) ii. 213 The enemy having raised from mountaine to mountaine, from wood to wood, and from bogge to bogge long Traverses, with huge and high Flanckers of great stones, mingled with Turffe. 1700Rycaut Hist. Turks III. 112 The Defendants..sprang a Mine under the Ruins of the Ravelin; which threw so much Earth into the Traverses of the Enemy, as buried many of their Labourers. 1767Sterne Tr. Shandy IX. xxvi. 115 Uncle Toby..got his wound before the gate of St. Nicolas, in one of the traverses of the trench. 1802C. James New Mil. Dict. s.v. Trenches, On the angles or sides of the trench, there are lodgments or epaulements, in form of traverses, the better to hinder the sallies of the garrison. 1882E. O'Donovan Merv Oasis II. xxxiii. 68 Opposite each gate was a large traverse, to protect it from artillery fire. a1917E. A. Mackintosh War, the Liberator (1918) 136 As MacTaggart turned back at the corner of the traverse he felt strangely comforted by the sight of MacRae. 1957P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble iv. 76 It struck me that the trenches were very badly constructed, being..dug almost in a straight line instead of with traverses. 1971S. Hill Strange Meeting ii. 139 The men had been getting their mid-day meal in this traverse when the bomb had landed in the middle of them.
β1598Barret Theor. Warres v. i. 125 The parts of a Bulwarke are the Trauesses or flankers. 1622F. Markham Bk. War iv. iii. 132 Lading and carrying the earth in barrels, baskets, and wheele barrows, by which are framed the Trauesses or flankers of the Bulwarke.
17. A natural structure forming a transverse partition, as the diaphragm; anything lying transversely or across. [= F. traverse.]
1604T. Wright Passions vi. 311 No man..can satisfie those demaunds..whether it [the Emmet] hath a Lyver, or no..whether a traverse or midriffe. 1657Thornley tr. Longus' Daphnis & Chloe 136 His resolution was to imagine pleasure on this side the traverse.
18. Anything laid or fixed athwart or across; a cross-piece; a cross-beam in a timber roof; a transom; the transverse member in a cross; each of the rungs of a ladder (in quot. fig.), etc. [= F. traverse.]
1708J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. x. (1737) 429 The Traverse or Cross of the Sword being of Silver over Gilt, is in Length seventeen Inches and a Half. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Traverse is particularly used for a piece of wood or iron placed transversely, to strengthen and fortify another: such are those used in gates, windows, etc. 1730A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 295 Two round Holes in the Stone of the Threshold,..and two others correspondent with them, in the Traverse above. 1766Entick London IV. 197 Upon that ball was a cross, 15 feet high, whose travers measured six feet. 1793Burke Conduct Minority Wks. VII. 285 To make every man..cautious how he makes himself one of the traverses of a ladder, to help such a man..to climb up to the highest authority. 1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 198/1 The cast iron rail can be fixed to the blocks or bearers with the patent vertical ties, chairs, and traverses, or in any of the usual ways.
19. Card-making. A transverse section of a cardboard.
1837Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades (1842) 100 The boards are first cut into slips, or, as they are termed, traverses, containing five cards each.
†20. The reverse side of a coin or medal. Obs.
1622Peacham Compl. Gent. xii. (1634) 119 As..was worth a halfe-penny farthing. And it is discerned by this figure 1. with the head or prowe of a Ship on the traverse; and Janus bifrons on the forepart.
¶21. Her. Stated to denote a bearing resembling a pile or a chevron turned sideways.
(But app. an error due to mistaking traverse a. 2, 2 b, for a n.; Guillim, cited for this use, has the word only as adj.)
c1828Berry Encycl. Her. I. Gloss., Traverse, sometimes termed a doublet, and, in French, embrassé droit, is a bearing, according to Guillim, resembling the cheveron, which issues from two angles of one side of the escocheon, and meets in a point about the middle of the other side.
V. Phrases and Combinations.
†22. Phrases.
a. at traverse, in traverse, on travers, traverse, crossways, sideways, transversely; in flank; with a side glance, askance. Obs. (Cf. a-travers.) [OF. à, en travers.] See also 9.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 13394 Þe seriauntz & þe archers..were set..To kepe þe Romayns at trauers. c1450Merlin 262 He turned the heed in trauers, and made semblant as he hadde hym not herde. Ibid. 425 He loked proudly on trauerse. 1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie 29 Great peeces of tymber or logges of woode..set in trauerse ouer some passage, bridge or gate. 1659J. Leak Waterwks. 14 They must be soldered a travers above the great Pipes. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 66 Joyners work as well upon the Traverse..as with the Grain of the wood.
†b. through the travers, lit. rendering of F. par le travers, through the transverse extent, through the breadth, across. Obs.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxviii. 576 [He] went..thrugh the travers of the wodes wel the space of viii dayes.
23. attrib. and Comb. (sometimes of the verb-stem), as traverse-rag (see 13), traverse-sailing (see 12); traverse-board, travis-board, Naut., a circular board marked with the points of the compass, and having holes and pegs by which to indicate the course of the ship (cf. 12); traverse-book, travis-book, a log-book; traverse-circle, a circular or segmental track on which a gun-carriage is turned to point the gun in any required direction; traverse-drill, a drill in which the boring tool has at the required depth a lateral motion; also, a drill in which the drill-stock is adjustable laterally on the bed; traverse jury, a jury empanelled to adjudicate on an appeal from another jury: see sense 8 and traverse v. 12; traverse line, a line in a traverse-survey; traverse-man, one who makes the traverses (sense 3) in a topographical survey; traverse-map, a rough map, the main points on which have been determined by traversing: see traverse v. 7; † traverse-nail, a kind or size of nail used in making partitions; traverse-point, the highest point of a mountain-pass; traverse-saw: see quot.; traverse-scale, travis-: see quot.; traverse-survey, a survey made for the purpose of locating the features of a country along a narrow strip, as for a canal, a railway, or a boundary line, as distinct from a general trigonometrical survey of the whole country; traverse-warp machine, a bobbin-net machine in which the warp traverses instead of the carriages.
a1625Nomenclator Navalis (MS. Harl. 2301), *Trauers bord is a board which they keepe in the Steeridg hauing the 32 pointes of the Compasse marked in it with little holes on every pointe like a Noddy-bord. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 11 The trauas boord. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Traverse-Board..upon it, by moving of a little Peg from Hole to Hole, the Steers-man keeps an account how many Glasses (that is, half Hours) the Ship Steers upon any Point. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Traverse-board.
a1679Sir J. Moore Syst. Math. (1681) I. 271 This account ruff taken off the Log-board, ought to be entred into a Book called a *Traverse Book or Log Book. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Log, They are entered into the log-book, or traverse-book, ruled and columned just as the log-board is.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Traverse-circle,..a circular track on which the chassis traverse-wheels of a barbette carriage, mounted with a center or rear pintle, run while the gun is being pointed.
1864Webster, *Traverse-drill, 1. a machine-tool for feeding a drill into the work. (Local U.S.) 2. A cotter-drill. (Eng.) 1877Knight Dict. Mech., Traverse-drill.
1823Rep. Sel. Comm. Sewers Metrop. 15 We have never had any *traverse juries in the Tower Hamlets sewers within my recollection.
1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Survey. x. 195 *Traverse lines may be run in conjunction with a trigonometric survey to fill in the details.
Ibid. 202 The *traverseman having set up and oriented his plane table.
1901Year-bk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 121 When there are [no] accurate county maps it is almost impossible to carry on the soil survey except through the co-operation of State institutions which will undertake to make a *traverse map.
c1350in Hope Windsor Castle (1913) 165 In xxxml *Traversnail emptis pro parietibus camerarum canonicorum. 1358–60Ibid. 216 In..lx mill. clavorum vocatorum travers.
1886Ruskin Præterita I. ix. 304 This main pass of Jura..reaches its *traverse-point very nearly under the highest summit of that part of the chain.
1700Congreve Way of World v. i, Dining behind a *traverse rag in a shop no bigger than a bird-cage.
1787A. Clarke in Life (1840) App. 154 After much *traverse sailing, occasioned by the wind being almost directly opposite, we came to anchor. 1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 169/2 Traverse sailing..is merely the sailing on different points of the compass, for short distances, in succession.
1877Knight Dict. Mech., *Traverse-saw, a cross-cutting saw which moves on ways across the piece.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. 46 A Portable most useful *Travis-Scale. Ibid. ii. v. 64 The Travis-Scale... An Instrument the most easie, ready, and necessary..for the working of Travises, and correcting your dead Reckoning.
1896Markham in Geog. Jrnl. VII. 187 [He] set out to explore the river Madre de Dios... He was supplied with compass, sextant, and chronometer, and corrected his *traverse-survey by daily observations of the sun.
1839Ure Dict. Arts, etc. 733 There are six different systems of bobbin⁓net machines. 1. Heathcoak's patent machine. 2. Brown's *traverse warp [etc.].
Sense I. 6 in Dict. becomes I. 7; senses 7–23 become 8–24. Add: [I.] 6. Gunnery. a. The lateral movement of a gun, etc., on a pivot or mount. b. The capacity for such movement; lateral manoeuvrability.
1878W. R. Lake Brit. Pat. 1935 1 Automatic and adjustable traverse mechanism, whereby a constant lateral change may be given to the direction of the barrels. 1880Encycl. Brit. XI. 287/1 In fig. 21 an automatic traversing arrangement is shown, which can be put in or out of gear as desired, and by means of which the amount of traverse can be regulated. 1914Infantry Training (War Office) xv. 200 The power of turning rapidly in any desired direction, or of ‘all-round traverse’, enables the gun to be brought to bear upon a fresh target without moving the tripod. 1941C. G. Grey Bombers vii. 65 He could sit in the shade, with plenty of traverse for his gun, and shoot at the indigenes in comfort. 1989Air Internat. Feb. 81/1 The lack of traverse possessed by the nose-mounted ShKAS machine guns..limited their value in countering a head-on fighter pass.
[III.] [13.] d. Skiing. A run made diagonally across a slope, esp. as part of a zig-zag course of descent; also, a course or slope on which such runs are made.
1905D. M. M. Crichton et al. in E. C. Richardson Ski-Running III. 74 He is obliged at the end of his traverse to stop and turn. 1922V. Caufield Ski-ing Turns x. 180 Open Christiania turn... Main use—Uphill turning in all conditions of slope, speed and traverse. 1930A. Lunn Compl. Ski-Runner vi. 71 The normal position for a traverse is to run with the upper foot leading. 1942‘N. Shute’ Pied Piper ii. 20 At each new slope of snow he thought to see John come hurtling over the brow, stem-christie to a traverse, and vanish in a while flurry that sped down into the valley. 1969M. Heller Ski xv. 199 Closely related to mogul slopes is the heavily rutted traverse. 1988Ski Ann. XIII. i. 51/1 An introductory course to off-piste skiing is followed by..traverses from Crans Montana to Lauterbrunnen.
▪ II. traverse, a. rare.|ˈtrævəs, trəˈvɜːs|
Also 5, 7 travers, 7 treverse.
[a. OF. travers (also in Cotgr. 1611):—late pop.L. and med.L. trāversus:—L. transversus: see transverse a.]
1. Lying, passing, or extending across; cross, transverse.
1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 6999 Ouer my shuldere she yt [the scrip] caste And be-gan to bookele yt faste I travers wyse. 1598Stow Surv. xl. (1603) 410 The ouersight and profites of a Crosse ferrie, or trauerse ferrie ouer the Thames..before that any bridge was builded. 1625Purchas Pilgrims II. vii. vi. 1122 The treverse wind..is so forcible..that it raiseth great heapes of sand. 1634in Archæologia XXXV. 197 In the kitchen... A travers barre for the chimney. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 112 The traverse part of the Cross. 1894Westm. Gaz. 9 May 4/2 The explosions at the Waltham Cordite Factory..the strong traverse walls being blown to pieces.
†2. Slanting; oblique. Obs.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 412 With grim lookes and traverse cast of eye. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry i. viii. 34 A Gusset..is formed of a Trauerse line drawne either from the Dexter or Sinister Chiefe point..tending to the Honour point, and descending from thence..to the extreme base parts of the Escocheon. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 146 The deviser of this [chess] would represent unto us a game of state..the bishops..should be..grave men, who by oblique, traverse and mystical ways..should effectuate their master's designs and safety.
b. Her. parted per pile traverse: said of the shield when divided by oblique transverse lines forming the figure of a pile (pile n.1 4) turned sideways.
1638J. Guillim Heraldry v. i. (ed. 3) 365 He beareth parted per pyle traverse, Argent, and Gules. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., There is also a Partition of an Eschucheon used in Heraldry of this Figure, which they call Parted per Pile [printed Pale] Traverse, Argent and Gules.
▪ III. traverse, v.|ˈtrævəs, trəˈvɜːs|
Forms: 4–7 trauerse, (4 Sc. trawers), 5–7 trauers, travers, (6 trauarse, trauerce), 6– traverse. Pa. tense and pple. traversed: formerly often traverst. Also β. 5 trauess, 6 Sc. trevess, treviss, treveiss, 6–7 traues, -ves; 4–5 trauys, 5 trauiss, 6 trauice, 6–7 trauise, 7 traviss; 6–7 (9 dial.) travish; 6 trauas, -ase, -aise, 6–8 travas.
[a. F. traverser (11th c.) to cross, thwart, f. travers traverse n. or a. Cf. Prov. traversar, Sp. travesar, Cat. -essar, It. traversare:—late pop.L. trāversāre for transversāre, in late L. to cross, throw across, f. trāversus = transversus, pa. pple. of transvertĕre to turn across: see transvert v. The β-forms are popular corruptions, due to phonetic weakening of second syllable: cf. the Sp. and Cat. forms. The vb. is now often stressed on the 2nd syllable in British and American English , and this has influenced the pronunciation of its derivative forms.]
I. To run across or through; to cross.
For intransitive uses related to these, see branch IV.
1. trans.
†a. To run (something) through with a weapon; to pierce, stab (obs.);
b. to pass through as a weapon, to penetrate, pierce. Now rare.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 5841 With a spere he him trauersed. 1513Douglas æneis x. viii. 98 The schaft..throw the bordour of the scheyld swa persyt, Quhill fynaly in sum deyll it traversyt, And hurt a part of Turnus big body. 1613R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Trauerse, strike, or thrust through. 1846F. Brittan tr. Malgaigne's Man. Oper. Surg. 410 The needles..traverse the intestine on the opposite side. 1878Browning La Saisiaz 356 While I watch it [torture] traversing the human heart.
c. To cross (a thing) with a line, stripe, bar, barrier, or anything that intersects. In pass., To be crossed with lines, etc. Now rare.
c1420Anturs of Arth. 354 (Thornton MS.) In paulle purede with pane, fulle precyously dyghte, Trofelyte and trauerste wythe trewloues in trete. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 6 b, Twoo long gouenes of yelowe satin, trauarsed with white satin. 1600J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 45 The rebells traversed the same [entrance] with a barricado with doble flancks. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 196 They traversed the streets with barricadoes. a1810Tannahill Poems (1846) 37 His chequered robes excited their surprise, Richly travers'd with various glowing dyes.
†d. To get across (a horse); to mount, bestride.
1438Bk. Alexander Gt. (Bann. Cl.) 101 Bot he had nocht this counsale than, Trauersit his hors as michty man, He turnit nocht abasitly.
e. Her. To place across or crosswise (on the shield).
1610Bolton Elem. Armories 21 Three parallel Arrowes trauersed barre-ways.
2. a. To cross (a mountain, river, sea) in travelling; now esp. to pass or journey across, over, or through; to pass through (a region) from side to side, or from end to end; also, to pass through (a space or solid body), as rays of light, etc.
In quot. 1708, to pass the fingers across.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon iii. 105 Every man wente to hys countrey not the ryght waye but traversynge the mountaynes. 1590Greene Mourn. Garm. (1616) 4 What Experience Vlisses got by trauersing strange Countries. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 66 Thrice the Equinoctial Line He circl'd; four times cross'd the Carr of Night From Pole to Pole, traversing each Colure. 1708J. Philips Cyder Poems (1778) 111 Blind British bards with volant touch Traverse loquacious strings. 1748Anson's Voy. Introd. C iv b, The Manila ships are the only ones which have ever traversed this vast ocean. 1839G. Bird Nat. Phil. 264 Currents of positive electricity will traverse the wire. 1868Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 10) II. iii. xxxix. 355 The jaguar traverses with ease the largest streams. 1880C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 49 They traversed the valley of Chinchao.
βa1533Ld. Berners Huon xxxv. 111 Thou dydest swym in y⊇ see, & trauesyd y⊇ grete waues. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xi. 45 b, Trauishing this goulph, a Northerly wynde came full in the face of vs.
b. To trace (a geometrical figure, or part of one) continuously without lifting the pen or pencil. Also intr. or absol.
1905J. C. Wilson Traversing Geometr. Figures i. §1. 5 To traverse in a figure, or in a part of it, is to trace a path along its lines, no line being traced twice over, ending at a point at which no path in the figure, or the given part of it, remains untraced. Ibid. §9. 16 Rules for traversing figures which can be exhausted by a single traverse.
3. fig. (and in fig. context). To ‘go through’ (life, time, or anything figured as an extended space or region); to read through or consider thoroughly (a subject, treatise, etc.).
c1477Caxton Jason 4 Their lyf was trauersid in contynnuelle bewailing. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 137 Timelie to trauerse the thing that thou triue. a1716South Serm. (1744) X. 186 Traversing those several Scriptures, which these men alledge in the behalf of their opinion. 1823Scott Quentin D. iv, Such were the thoughts which hastily traversed the mind of young Durward. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §6. 398 It was in the years which we are traversing that England became firmly Protestant.
β1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. A iv, M. Bucer, Peter Martyr, and..the B. of Sarisburie, haue trauast our Church with as graue a gate as he. 1606S. Gardiner Bk. Angling To Rdr., After thou hast but cursorily trauised this Treatise. 1616W. Forde Serm. 4 We will, by Gods assistance..travish the same ground we have began to tread.
4. Of a thing: To lie, be situated, extend, stretch, or ‘run’ across (something); to cross, intersect.
1481Caxton Myrr. ii. iii. 68 Thise two flodes [Tygris & Eufrates] trauerse many grete contrees. 1682Sir H. Piers Descr. Westmeath in Collect. de Rebus Hibern. I. 65 The lintel that traverseth the head of the door is of one entire stone. 1683Brit. Spec. 145 The Romans gave them their help to build another Wall of Stone,..traversing the Island in a direct line from East to West. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 142 The country in the neighbourhood was so..traversed with mountains. 1829I. Taylor Enthus. viii. 204 The dead solitudes of sand, traversed..by the Nile. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies xviii. 155 Deeply worn footpaths..traversing the country. 1851Richardson Geol. viii. 270 Canals that everywhere traverse bone..called Haversian.
5. To go to and fro over or along; to cross and recross. to traverse one's ground, to move from side to side, in fencing or fighting.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 35 So both attonce him charge..With hideous strokes.. That forced him his ground to traverse wyde. 1595Locrine i. Prol. 5 A mightie Lion, ruler of the woods,..Traverst the groues. 1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iv. xiii. 283 He..traversed his ground, came on, and gave backe, tyring his Enemy with change of play. 1829Scott Anne of G. xxv, The Duke traversed the apartment with unequal steps, in much agitation. 1878C. Stanford Symb. Christ v. 142 The spirit of evil traversing the earth to tempt the members of Christ's flock.
β1577Harrison England ii. xiv. (1877) i. 265 To meet with his enimie in the plaine field..where he may trauaise his ground. 1592W. Wyrley Armorie, Capitall de Buz 152 Trauasing Fraunce vp and downe at pleasure. 1613E. Hoby Countersnarle 27 Thus doth this Spider-Catcher travaise his ground, with a goodly flourish.
†6. Carpentry. To plane (wood) across the grain. Obs.
1678[see traversing vbl. n.]. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 268 Traverse, A Term in Joynery, signifying to plain a Board, (or the like) across the Grain.
7. Surveying. To determine the positions of points on the earth's surface by measuring the lengths and azimuths of a connected series of straight lines; to make or execute a traverse (traverse n. 3) of (a region); to delimit (an area) by thus determining the position of points on its boundaries; to trace the course of (a road, river, etc.) in this way.
1874C. C. King Map & Plan Drawing 69 The next operation is that of tracing, or, it is technically called, ‘traversing’, any roads that may intersect the area, or if none be present, a line passing through that portion which contains the largest number of natural or artificial peculiarities. 1900H. M. Wilson Topogr. Survey x. 195 Their topography is most easily obtained by means of traversing. 1908H. Lyons Cadastral Surv. Egypt 211 The province..was divided up into sections..which approximated to districts, and these large blocks were traversed with care, the work being done by the more efficient of the staff who also traversed the villages lying on the boundary.
II. To turn, move, or bring (a thing) across.
8. a. trans. To alter the position of (a gun, etc.) laterally, so as to take aim. Also absol.
1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 78 His men..were seene busie trauersing their gunnes vpon the Eagle. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xviii. (Roxb.) 140/2 The laying or remoueing of a peece of Ordinance till it come to lie with the marke, is termed traversing of the peece. 1727–41Chambers Cycl., Traverse, in gunnery, signifies to turn or point a piece of ordnance..upon her platform. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 196 No. 3..traverses with the handspike. 1899Westm. Gaz. 30 Nov. 4/2 The gun can be traversed—that is, the direction of its aim laterally can be varied—by means of a wooden handspike.
β1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 195 An English gunner..being travesing of a peece in the bowe, to make his shott, had his head carryed away with the first or second shott made out of our shippe. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiv. 65 To trauas a Peece is to turne her which way you will vpon her Platforme. 1644Nye Gunnery ii. (1670) 2 There you may best observe, as the Peece is travissing, when you are in a direct line with the Mark. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Travas, a Term in Gunnery.
b. intr. To carry a gun so that it points at the head or body of another sportsman.
1886Badminton Libr., Shooting (1895) 177 Many men who shoot a great deal ‘traverse’ habitually, and the habit once acquired is most difficult to eradicate.
†9. To turn away, to divert; fig. to pervert. Obs. rare.
1623Sir E. Digby Sp. in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 132 For the Recovery of the Patrimony belonging to the King of Bohemia, now almost traversed from him, and in the possession of a powerful Enemy. 1689Owen True Nat. Gosp. Ch. x. Wks. 1855 XVI. 183 It is the mystery of iniquity that hath traversed these things into..a posture unintelligible to spiritual wisdom.
10. To carry in a trailing manner; to trail. dial.
1814W. Nicholson Peacock iii. 22 So ha'e I seen..mystic knighthood o' the apron; Wi' empty pride, in monkish gown, Travish a Bible thro' the town. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Travish, to carry after a trailing manner.
III. To direct oneself or act against.
11. a. trans. To act against, to go counter to; to cross, thwart, oppose.
c1400Gosp. Nicodemus 1301 (Galba MS.) He has me tenid and trauerst [14.. v.r. trauyst] ay in all þe werkes I haue wroght. 14..Beryn 3411 We submit vs all..nevir for to travers o word þat þow seyst. 1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xii. 119 The vnluckie ende of trauersing the lawe. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 2 Here..the difficultie ceased not, becaus som did travers the execution of the sentence. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iv. iii, He resolved to traverse this new project. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 274 To inclose a whole sentence between Parentheses..is traversing the intention of Parentheses. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii. IV. 75 Berwick had sent Maxwell to watch their motions and to traverse their designs.
β14..[see α]. c1460Towneley Myst. xxv. 153 That trature trauesses vs all-way. c1480Kyng & Hermit 87 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 17 When that they were travyst [? travayst] And of herborow were abayst.
†b. intr. To go (against), go counter. Obs. rare.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 284 Trewth þat trespassed neuere ne transuersed [v.r. trauersed] aȝeines his lawe. 1393Ibid. C. iv. 449 Ho so takeþ aȝen treuthe oþer transuerseþ [v.r. trauerseth] aȝens reson.
12. a. trans. Law. To contradict formally (a matter of fact alleged in the previous pleading); to deny at law; spec. in phr. to traverse an indictment, to deny or take issue upon an indictment; to traverse an office, to deny or impeach the validity of an inquest of office. Also absol.
[1292Britton ii. xxvi. §2 Et autres plusours excepciouns..porra le tenaunt traverser, et dire, qu il ne fust unques seisi.] a1325MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 96 b, Þer me ne mai noȝt vochen warant out of þe lignage bote onliche trauersen þe Entree. 1467in Eng. Gilds (1870) 394 To travers the seid presentements or accusement for his acquitalle. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 47 In traversyng a cause before a judge. 1588Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiii. 542 To Trauerse an Enditement..is to take issue vpon the chiefe matter therof, which is none other..then..to deny the point of the Enditement. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xxxvi. (1739) 54 In the answer of the Defendant, he either traversed the matter in fact, or confessed and justified, or confessed and submitted. 1791Hampson Mem. J. Wesley II. 33 If they were disappointed at the quarter sessions,..they traversed and appealed to the upper courts. 1823Rep. Sel. Comm. Sewers Metrop. 17 In all cases where the presentment of the jury is traversed,..that traverse must be tried by another jury, to be summoned by the sheriff, which is called a traverse jury. 1911Odgers Comm. Law Eng. v. xvii. II. 1214 Allegations of fact alone should be traversed, and these he must not traverse ‘evasively, but answer the point of substance’.
†b. To affirm, by way of contradicting a charge or allegation. Obs.
1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 2 §4 Yf..any man will travers that the seid Warrant is not the dede of hym that is named. 1654Fuller Two Serm. 16 What will it benefit a Lamb to traverse his innocence in the pawes of a Lyon?
†13. To dispute; to discuss. Obs.
c1440Partonope 1772 Eche man did travers Others witte. 1503Hawes Examp. Virt. xxviii, Longe, haue they trauerst..Whiche of them sholde haue the preemynence. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. 16 The matter..muste bee trauersed before the commen officers. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. Epist. ⁋iij, Amongst other talke which was generally traversed amongst us. 1599― Lenten Stuffe (1871) 29, I could run ten quires of paper out of breath, in further traversing her rights and dignities.
IV. Intransitive sense allied to I and II.
These do not appear in Fr., in which traverser is always transitive. But in Eng. they sometimes appear earlier than the transitive senses to which they are specially allied.
14. a. intr. To move, pass, or go across; to cross, cross over; (of a ship) to tack. (Cf. 2 and 5.)
1375Barbour Bruce xvii. 532 So lang thai raid distroyande swa, As thai trauersit to and fra. 1517R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 6 We traversed owt of that Ryver into a nother lytell Ryver. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative Pref., Purchase wrote much, Hacluyt traversed farr. 1782E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman II. 124 For some minutes he traversed backwards and forwards from the window to the door. 1897Scotsman 14 May 6/1 The railway would so seriously injure the scenery of the valley and lake along which it would traverse.
β1438Bk. Alexander Gt. (Bann. Cl.) 85 Daucline..Trauissit challange for to maik. 1568Satir. Poems Reform. xlvi. 53 Steir be the compas..Syne treveiss still, and lay abowt. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 213 Thair was tuo schipis..trevessing wpe and doune the firth. 1591Lyly Endym. iii. iii, We will trauice. Will you goe, sir? 1892Quiller Couch Three Ships, etc. 179 Not a tint did he work, but kept travishing back and forth.
b. fig.
1566Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 90 This miserable louer, trauersing in seuerall mindes,..chaunged his mynde a thousand times in an hower. 1645Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1738 I. 250 That it does not traverse from the Closet of Conscience to the Courts of Civil or Canon Law. 1747Mem. Nutrebian Crt. I. 203 We shall traverse back to some particulars of her education. 1824Galt Rothelan ii. xiii, His thoughts tossed and traversed like the inconstant clouds.
†c. In dancing: see quot. 1616. Obs.
1584B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 86 Many [women] trauise & daunce minionly. 1616Bullokar Eng. Expos., Trauerse, to march vp and downe or to moue the feete with proportion, as in dancing.
15. To move from side to side; to dodge (cf. 5); in quot. 1635 trans. to drive by ‘traversing’. Obs. or arch.
1470–85Malory Arthur x. xxx. 463 Thus they tracyd and trauercyd and hewe on helmes and hawberkes. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. V, 50 Thus this battaile continued iii long houres, some strake, some defended, some foyned, some trauersed, some kylled, some toke prisoners. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. iii. 25 To see thee fight, to see thee foigne, to see thee trauerse. 1635Earl of Strafford Lett. & Disp. (1739) I. 478 He shall be a very artificial Fencer..that traverseth me forth of my Ground. 1823Scott Quentin D. xiv, To harass his antagonist, by traversing on all sides, with a suddenness of motion and rapidity of attack. 1858Morris Def. Guenevere 13 The fight began,..Ever Sir Launcelot kept him on the right, And traversed warily.
†16. To digress. Obs. rare.
1530Palsgr. 761/2, I traverse, I go from one mater to an other... Nowe you leave the purpose and begyn to traverse.
17. To come or fall across each other; to cross. (Cf. 4.)
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 17 It bloweth a storm—furle the Sail fast, and fasten the Yards, that they may not travers and gall.
18. To run freely in its proper socket, ring, channel, or course (as a rope); to turn or move freely from side to side on a traverse-circle (as a gun); to turn about on a pivot (as the needle of the compass). (Cf. 8.)
1829Marryat F. Mildmay xxiii, Sharp frosts..obliged us to pour boiling water into the sheaves of the blocks to thaw them, and allow the ropes to traverse. 1832Nat. Philos. II. Magnetism iii. §91. 22 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.) In moving..towards the position which it thus tends to assume, the needle of the compass is said to traverse. 1849Cupples Green Hand iv, The tiller-ropes cheeping as they traversed. 1851Ord. & Regul. R. Engineers §19. 94 Iron Traversing Platforms..so constructed, that..they may be made to traverse in any direction. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. x. 113 It traversed freely by a ring on a loop or bridle. 1863Possibilities of Creation 175 Let the head..have no power of traversing upon the atlas, and let that..spinal column..become as stiff as an iron bar, and..poor humanity would be completely crippled.
19. a. Falconry. To move from side to side, to wriggle, as a hawk. b. Manège. To advance obliquely, as a horse: see quot. 1753.
1486Bk. St. Albans, Hawking a vij, Ye shall knawe it whan she puttith ouer she trauersith withe hir bodi. 1544Betham Precepts War i. cxi. F v b, To take vp his horse with the spurres, that he may praunse, trauerse, and flyng wyth the heeles. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xx. (1660) 223 She [a Hawk] putteth over, when she removeth her meat from her Gorge, into her Bowels, by traversing with her body, but chiefly with her Neck, as a Crane..doth. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., A horse is said to traverse, when he cuts his tread cross-wise; throwing his croupe to one side, and his head to another. 1884E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship ii. xii. 119 Traversing is the movement in which the horse passes to either side..upon two paths, the forehand following one, the hind-quarters, slightly retired, the other.
20. To advance or ascend in a zigzag line. (Cf. traverse n. 12 c.)
1773Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 6 Sept., Our way now lay over the mountains, which are not to be passed by climbing them directly, but by traversing.
21. Mountaineering. To make one's way in a horizontal or transverse direction across the face of a mountain or rock. (See traverse n. 6.)
1893C. Wilson Mountaineering vi. 88 To traverse for some distance on steep snow or grass. Ibid. Gloss., Traverse,..(a.) to cross a mountain slope horizontally. 1897O. G. Jones Rock-climbing 123 At the foot we joined up again and traversed round to the ‘sheep walk’. Ibid. 269 The climber hangs by his hands,..and traverses across the face by sheer strength of his arms.
V. From traverse n.
22. trans. To furnish or fortify with a traverse or traverses (see traverse n. 16). rare.
1828J. M. Spearman Brit. Gunner (ed. 2) 360 Of 170 shells, filled with powder, that were fired at the work when traversed, 58 took effect;..the effect on the traverses was considerable, and they were much ruined.
Add:[I.] [2.] c. Skiing. To ski diagonally across (a slope or hill).
1905D. M. M. Crichton et al. in E. C. Richardson Ski-Running III. 84 As a substitute for stemming a little of the swing is very useful for braking when traversing a steep slope. 1911V. Caufield How to Ski 175 He is traversing the slope with the hill on his right side. 1963Ski-ing (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) (ed. 2) 24 Practise traversing a slope with ski clamped together, then suddenly edge, with outward thrust of heels down the slope. 1974H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 130/1 Whenever you are traversing a slope there is a tendency for the uphill ski tip to wander downhill.
[IV.] [21.] b. Skiing. To execute a traverse (see *traverse n. 13 d).
1935Encycl. Sports 563/1 In traversing, one ski will be higher than the other, and both should be a little edged into the slope, the weight on the lower ski. 1974H. Evans et al. We learned to Ski 128/1 (heading) How to traverse. 1985Skiing (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) (ed. 5) 25 The easiest way to cope with moguls is firstly to traverse across and turn at the edges.
▪ IV. † traverse, adv. (prep.) Obs.
Also 5–7 travers.
[Sometimes app. aphetic for a-travers adv. = F. à travers; sometimes advb. use of traverse a.]
Across; crosswise; athwart; transversely.
c1450Lovelich Grail liii. 211 Into A wast lawnde he happede there..and thus travers he Rod tyl Myd Nyht. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xli. 128 The erle..caused..hyghe trees to be hewen downe, and layde trauers one ouer another. 1640Howell Dodona's Gr. (1645) 2 A square of 550 miles travers. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Willow, Let them be copp'd Traverse, and not Obliquely, at one foot or somewhat more from the Ground.
b. traverse to, traverse of, right across; = B.
1548Patten Exped. Scotl. G vij, The furrowes laye trauers to their course. 1654H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 68 Coming counter and travers of our Canon, they received the greater losse.
B. prep. Across. (Cf. a-travers prep.)
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 3 After them came sir Thomas Brandon..clothed in tissue..and traverse his body, a greate Bauderike of Gold. 1610Holland Camden's Brit., Scot. ii. 25 Hardly one by one can passe up, and that..by Grees or steps cut out aslope travers the rock. |