thwart

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: thwôrt, IPA: /θwɔː(r)t/, SAMPA: /TwOrt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(r)t

Etymology

From Old Norse þvert, cognates include Danish tvær, Gothic 𐌸𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍃 (þwaírs, “angry”), German quer.

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.

   • 2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton”, 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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• athwart
• athwartships
• thwarter

Translations

to prevent; to halt; to cause failure

Catalan: frustrar (ca), desbaratar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 阻撓 (zh), 阻挠 (zh) (zǔnáo) Czech: zmařit (cs), zkřížit (cs) Finnish: pysäyttää (fi), tehdä tyhjäksi (fi) French: contrecarrer (fr), contrarier (fr) German: durchkreuzen (de), entgegenwirken (de), vereiteln (de) Japanese: 阻む (ja) (はばむ, habamu)

Portuguese: frustrar (pt), contrariar (pt) Russian: мешать исполнению (mešát’ ispolnéniju); препятствовать (ru) (prepjátstvovat') impf., воспрепятствовать (ru) (vosprepjátstvovat') impf., расстраивать (ru) (rasstráivat’) impf., расстроить (ru) (rasstróit’) pf. Spanish: frustrar (es), contrariar (es) Swedish: hindra (sv)

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

A seat attached to both sides of a boat

Finnish: piitta (fixed), tuhto (removable) French: banc (fr) m. Hawaiian: nohona waʻa Portuguese: banco (pt) m.

Russian: банка (ru) (bánka) f. Scottish Gaelic: tobhta (gd) m. and f. Spanish: banco (de remeros) m., bancada f.