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athwart

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Across; from side to side. It is an old-fashioned or literary preposition/adverb.

Detailed Definition
Athwart means across or transversely, and it is especially common in older poetry and prose. Landor uses it to place the churchyard gate in relation to the children’s spelling, giving the scene a vivid, slightly antique feel. Modern readers may recognize it only from literary contexts.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Where children spell, athwart the churchyard gate” preserves athwart as an archaic or literary alternative to across; Thomas Hardy’s rural poems use older diction to deepen their sense of inherited place; in ballad-like verse, “athwart the road” can sound more traditional than “across the road”; the word is especially effective when a barrier or crossing carries symbolic weight
Additional Notes
Athwart is an archaic literary word for “across,” so readers may not immediately know it from the quoted line.; Found in the poem, The Maid’s Lament by Walter Savage Landor
Other Meanings of “athwart”
Also Known As
across against contrary in opposition
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