Thwert

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To block or foil someone's plans or efforts ; a rowing bench fixed across the width of a small boat
2. To hinder an attempt or stop someone from achieving a goal ; a plank seat extending across a boat from side to side
3. To obstruct or defeat an aim or intention ; a transverse bench on which an oarsman sits in a rowing boat

Etymology: The verb "thwert" is an older spelling of "thwart," and it began as a physical image: crossing from one side to the other. It comes from Old Norse "þvert," meaning "transverse" or "across," which entered Middle English as "thwerten." The same root gave sailors the "thwart," a rowing bench laid across a boat, and it survives in "athwart," meaning across or against. The sense moved from crossing a space to crossing a person's path. To thwart someone is to cut across their plans and block them, so a word meaning simply to go across came to mean to frustrate. The spelling "thwert" appears in Middle English and early modern texts, but "thwart" became the standard form, and "thwert" now sounds archaic.