prep., adv., adj. Obs. exc. dial. Also 3 þwert-, 5 twarte-, thurte-, thawrt-, dial. 8 thurt-, 9 thirtover. See also THORTER. [Originally, and in A and B usually, two words: THWART adv. and OVER prep. or adv. Cf. OVERTHWART.]
† A. prep. Athwart over; across one side to the other of. (Also in quot. c. 1450 in thurte (= a-thwart) over.) Obs.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 10. Ant [heo] droh þa endelong hire, ant þwertouer þrefter, þe derewurðe taken of þe deore rode.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 45. The secounde chief kynges hiȝe weye hatte Watlynge strete, and streccheþ þwart ouer Fosse [orig. per transversum prioris viæ] out of þe souþ est in to þe norþ west.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 143 (Add. MS.). Aftirwarde he [a band] schal be turnyde twarte offere þe forehed, þat … þe nose declyne to neiþere syde.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 374. The which lieth in the feld that is I-called Brademore, and strecchith hit-self in thurte ouer the feld in length toward the southe and towarde the northe. Ibid., 502. All ther tenementes … in the subarbis of Oxenford toward the northe, fro the fore-named diche thurte ouer bewmounte vnto horsemonger-strete.
† B. adv. Crosswise; across. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xi. (Bodl. MS.). Þe spiþer … strecheþ vpward wiþ wonder crafte fro þe neþer side to þe ouer and drawiþ and bringeþ ofte aȝen his þrede þwarte ouer fro pointe to pointe.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, IV. iv. 176. Bakward she ran, and thwart.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 141. The worlde is … viii M myle thwarte ouer and iiij M myle to the midel.
C. adj. † a. Crossing, lying athwart, cross. Obs. b. That thwarts or obstructs; obstructive; cross, contrary, perverse, self-willed. Now dial.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 82. Attri speche is eresie & þwertouer leasunge.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 149. Þe souþsyde of Scotlonde þat streccheth from þe þwart ouer wal of Romayn werk to þe Scottische see. Ibid., VII. 35. Al aboute þe feeldes and þwart over weies.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 188. An harde and a thawrtouer worde raysyth Stryfe and wodnesse.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Pr. Charles, Wks. III. 102/1. For fifteene long dayes and nights, the thwartouer and crosse North and Easterly Winde blew vs nothing but [etc.].
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 174. That thwartover humour was enough discovered to rule in the breasts of many.
1790. Grose, Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), s.v. Thurt, A thurt-over fellow; a cross-grained or ill-tempered fellow. Berksh.
1891. Hardy, Tess (1900), 107/2. I have been living on in a thirtover, lackaday way, and have not seen what it may lead to!
1893. Maxwell Gray, Innocent Impostor, etc., 150. Things is thirtover when anybody’s in a hurry.
