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a- +‎ thwart



athwart (comparative more athwart, superlative most athwart)

  1. (archaic) From side to side; across.
    Above, the stars appeared to move slowly athwart.
    We placed one log on the ground, and another athwart, forming a crude cross.
  2. (archaic) Across the path (of something).
    a fleet standing athwart our course
    • 2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face, International New York Times, 10 September 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times[1]:
      And should the moon happen to hit its ever-shifting orbital perigee at the same time that it lies athwart from the sun, we are treated to a so-called supermoon, a full moon that can seem close enough to embrace – as much as 12 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon.




  1. (archaic) From one side to the other side of.
    The stars moved slowly athwart the sky.
  2. (nautical) Across the line of a ship's course or across its deck.
    The damaged mainmast fell athwart the deck, destroying the ship's boat.
  3. (archaic) Across the path or course of; opposing.


  • 1816, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan

Derived terms[edit]