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.
Derivatives:
traversable adj. traversal n. traverser n.
Etymology: OF traverser f. LL traversare, transversare (as TRANSVERSE)