v. & n.
v. 1 tr. travel or lie across (traversed the country; a pit traversed by a beam). 2 tr. consider or discuss the whole extent of (a subject). 3 tr. turn (a large gun) horizontally. 4 tr. Law deny (an allegation) in pleading. 5 tr. thwart, frustrate, or oppose (a plan or opinion). 6 intr. (of the needle of a compass etc.) turn on or as on a pivot. 7 intr. (of a horse) walk obliquely. 8 intr. make a traverse in climbing.
n. 1 a sideways movement. 2 an act of traversing. 3 a thing, esp. part of a structure, that crosses another. 4 a gallery extending from side to side of a church or other building. 5 a a single line of survey, usu. plotted from compass bearings and chained or paced distances between angular points. b a tract surveyed in this way. 6 Naut. a zigzag line taken by a ship because of contrary winds or currents. 7 a skier's similar movement on a slope. 8 the sideways movement of a part in a machine. 9 a a sideways motion across a rock-face from one practicable line of ascent or descent to another. b a place where this is necessary. 10 Mil. a pair of right-angle bends in a trench to avoid enfilading fire. 11 Law a denial, esp. of an allegation of a matter of fact. 12 the act of turning a large gun horizontally to the required direction. traversable adj. traversal n. traverser n.
[ OF traverser f. LL traversare, transversare (as TRANSVERSE) ]