[ 'travəs , trə'və:s ]
■ verb
1》 travel or extend across or through.
↘cross a rock face by means of a series of sideways movements from one practicable line of ascent or descent to another.
↘ski diagonally across (a slope), losing only a little height.
2》 move back and forth or sideways.
↘turn (a large gun or other device on a pivot) to face a different direction.
3》 Law deny (an allegation) in pleading.
↘ archaic thwart (a plan).
■ noun
1》 an act of traversing.
↘a zigzag course taken by a ship.
2》 a part of a structure that extends or is fixed across something.
↘a gallery extending from side to side of a church or other building.
3》 a mechanism enabling a large gun to be ~d.
↘the sideways movement of a part in a machine.
4》 a single line of survey, usually plotted from compass bearings and chained or paced distances between angular points.
5》 Military a pair of right-angled bends incorporated in a trench to avoid enfilading fire.
Derivatives
traversable adjective
traversal noun
~r noun
Origin
ME: from OFr. ~r , from late L. traversare ; the noun is from OFr. travers (masculine), ~ (fem.), partly based on ~r .