traverse 
2. In her., crossing the escutcheon from side 
to side, so as to touch both the dexter and 
sinister edges. Toll traverse. See totti. Traverse 
flute. Same as tramaerse flute (which see, anAatfaMi, 1). 
Traverse in point, in her., covered with narrow trian- 
gular bearings like points, alternating from dexter to sin- 
ister and from sinister to dexter; therefore, the same as 
pily baririsethe triangular figures from each side of the 
escutcheon being equal in size. Traverse jury, sail- 
ing, etc. See the nouns. Traverse pily, in her., same 
as traverse in point. 
II. . 1. Any thing that traverses or crosses; 
a bar or barrier, (at) A curtain, usually low, and ar- 
ranged to be drawn ; a sliding screen ; in the old theater, 
a curtain used as a substitute for scenes or scenery. 
Men drynken and the travers drawe anon. 
Chaueer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 573. 
I will see them : 
They are behind the traverse; 111 discover 
Their superstitious howling. 
Webster, White Devil, v. 4. 
(&t) A railing or lattice of wood or metal. 
The Communion Table ... he injoyned to be placed at 
the East end, upon a graduated advance of ground, with 
the ends inverted, and a woodden traverse of railes before 
it, to keep Profanation off. 
H. L'Estrange, Reign of K. Charles (ed. 1655), p. 137. 
(e) A seat or stall in a church with a lattice, curtain, or 
screen before it. [Scotch.] 
James regularly attended his chapel every forenoon in 
his traverse (retired seat with lettice), and Margaret was as 
formal. Pinkerton's Hist. Scot. , II. 83, note. (Jamieson.) 
(d) A strong beam of hard wood laid across several loose 
pieces of square timber, and having these pieces secured 
to it so as to form a crib ; also, a transverse piece in a 
timber-framed roof. (e) In weaving, a skeleton frame to 
hold the bobbins of yarn, which are wound from it upon 
the warp-frame. E. H. Knight. 
2. That which thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; 
an untoward accident. 
If, in the traverses of our life, discontents and injuries 
be done, Jesus teaches how the injured person should 
demean himself. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 270. 
In all traverses of fortune, in every colour of your life, 
maintaining an inviolable fidelity to your Sovereign. 
Dryden, Ded. of Plutarch's Lives. 
3f. A dispute ; a controversy. 
And whanne they were at travers of thise thre, 
Everiche holdynge his opinioun. 
Lydgale, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 18. (Halliwell.) 
The olde men of your age ought much to flee brawling 
with your aduersaries, either trauerse in, words with your 
neighbours. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1R77), p. 183. 
4. In fort., an earthen mask, similar to a para- 
pet, thrown across the covered way of a per- 
manent work to protect it from the effects of 
an enfilading fire. It generally extends from the 
counterscarp to the passage left between it and the in- 
terior slope of the glacis to serve as a communication 
throughout the covered way. 
The trauerses were made on ech side with good artillery 
great and small. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 86. 
5. The act of traversing or traveling over; a 
passage ; a crossing. 
The Readers . . . could not so well acquiesce in my 
Description of Places, <fcc., without knowing the particu- 
lar Traverses I made among them. 
Dampier, Voyages, I., Pref. 
In the first of those traverses we were not able to pene- 
trate so far north by eight or ten leagues as in the second. 
Cook, Third Voyage, vi. 4. 
6. In gun., the turning of a gun so as to make 
it point in any required direction. 7. Naut., 
the crooked or zigzag line or track described 
by a ship when compelled by contrary winds 
or currents to sail on different courses. See 
traverse sailing, under sailing. 8. In arch., a 
gallery or loft of communication from one side 
or part of the building to another, in a church 
or other large structure. 9. In law, a denial; 
especially, a denial, in pleading, of any alle- 
gation of matter of fact made by the adverse 
party. At common law, when the traverse or denial 
comes from the defendant the issue is tendered in this 
manner: "and of this he puts himself on the country." 
When the traverse lies on the plaintiff, he prays "this 
may be inquired of by the country." The technical words 
introducing a traverse at common law after a plea of new 
matter in avoidance are absqtie hoc, without this that 
is, denying this which follows. 
Item, I wolde that William Barker shulde send me a 
copye of the olde traverse of Tychewell and Beyton. 
Paston Letters, 1. 518. 
10. In geom., a line lying across a figure or 
other lines; a transversal. lit. A turning; a 
trick ; a pretext. 
Many shifts and subtile traverses were overwrought by 
this occasion. 
Proceedings against Garnet (1606). (Imp. Diet.) 
Things which could afford such plausible pretenses, 
such commodious traverses for ambition and Avarice to 
Ivrke behind. Milton, Prelatical Episcopacy. 
12. In her., a bearing resembling a point or 
pile that is, a triangle, of which one side 
corresponds with either the sinister or dexter 
6446 
edge of the escutcheon, and the point of which 
reaches nearly or quite to the opposite edge. 
It is, therefore, the same as point dexter re- 
moi'cil or point sinister removed. 13. A slid- 
ing screen or barrier. E. H. Knighf. 14. In 
the manufacture of playing-cards, one of the 
eight strips into which each sheet of card- 
board is cut. Each traverse makes five cards. 
15. Same as trevis, 2. Halliwell. [Prov. 
En g-] 16. A bolster.- in traverset. () Again; 
back ; around. 
As soone as the sauage man hir saugh comynge he turned 
his heed in trauerse and be-gan to laughe as in scorne. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 429. 
(J) Across; in opposition. 
Wherein wee sticke and stande in trailers, shewyng what 
we haue to saie in our owne behalfe. 
Sir T. Wilson, Art of Rhetoric, p. 7. 
On traverset, a traverset. Same as ire traverse. 
Than Grisandol com toward hym and swetly praide hym 
to telle wherefore he lough, and he loked proudly on trau- 
erse. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 425. 
To cast a point of traverse. See casti. Tom Cox's 
traverse (naut.), a slang term formerly used to signify an 
attempt to shirk or avoid work by pretending to be other- 
wise busy. Traverse of an indictment, in law: (a) The 
denial of an indictment by a plea of not guilty. (&) The 
postponement of the trial of an indictment after a plea of 
not guilty thereto. Traverse of office, a proceeding to 
impeach the truth of an inquest of office. With trav- 
erset, in return. 
If the dog in pleading would pluk the bear by the throte, 
the bear with trailers would claw him again by the skalp. 
Robert Laneham, Letter from Kenilworth (1575), quoted 
[in Ribton-Turner's Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 111. 
traverse (trav'ers or tra-vers'), adv. [< trav- 
erse, a.] Athwart; crosswise; transversely. 
He ... swears brave oaths and breaks them bravely, 
quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover. 
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 4. 45. 
He through the armed flies 
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse 
The whole battalion views. Milton, P. L., i. 568. 
traverse (trav'ers), v.; pret. and pp. traversed, 
ppr. traversing. [< F. traverser = Pr. traversal- 
= Sp. travesar = It. traversare, < ML. transver- 
sare, go across: see transverse, v., and cf. trav- 
erse, a.] I. trans. 1. To lay athwart, or in a 
cross direction ; cause to cross. 
Myself and such . . . 
Have wander'd with our traversed arms and breathed 
Our sufferance vainly. Shak., T. of A., v. 4. 7. 
The parts [of the body] should be often traversed (or 
crossed) by the flowing of the folds. 
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting. 
2. To pass across ; pass over or through trans- 
versely; wander over; cross in traveling. 
With a grave Look in this odd Equipage, 
The clownish Mimic traverses the Stage. 
Prior, Merry Andrew. 
What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought ! 
Pope, Imit. of Horace, ii. 1. 396. 
Swift cruisers traversed the sea in every direction, watch- 
ing the movements of the enemy. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent, xiv. 
3. To pass in review; survey carefully. 
My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles, and 
properties of this detestable vice, ingratitude. South. 
A field too wide to be fully traversed. 
D. Webster, Speech, Concord, Sept. 30, 1834. 
4. In gun., to turn and point in any direction. 
Hearing one cry out, They are traversing a piece at us, 
he threw himself in at the door of the cuddy. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 40. 
From the britch of the Gun there is a short stock, for 
the man who fires the Gun to traverse it withal, and to 
rest it against his shoulder. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 73. 
5. In carp., to plane in a direction across the 
grain of the wood: as, to traverse a board. 6. 
To cross by way of opposition; thwart; obstruct. 
If ever malignant spirit took pleasure or busied itself in 
traversing the purposes of mortal man it must have been 
here. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 19. 
Fortune, that had through life seemed to traverse all 
his aims, at last indulged him in this. 
Goldsmith, Bolingbroke. 
7. To deny; specifically, in law, to deny in 
pleading: said of any matter of fact which the 
opposite party has alleged in his pleading. 
When the matter is so plaine that it cannot be denied 
or traversed, it is good that it be iustifled by confessall 
and auoidance. I call it the figure of admittance. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 190. 
That [act] of 1427 gave the accused sheriff and knight 
the right to traverse the decision of the justices. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., 421. 
To traverse an indictment. See traverse of an in- 
dictment, under traverse, n. To traverse a yard (naut. ), 
to brace it fore and aft. 
II. inlrans. 1. To cross; crossover. 
Thorught the wodes went, athirt trauersing, 
Where thay found places diuers and sondrye. 
Mom. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 169. 
2. To march to and fro. 
travertin 
Fal. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph. 
Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 291. 
They watch'd the motions of some foe, 
Who traversed on the plain below. 
Scott, Marmion, vi. 18. 
3. In fencing, to use the posture or motions of 
opposition or counteraction. 
To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse. 
Shak.,M. W. of W., ii. 3. 25. 
4. To turn, as on a pivot ; move round ; swivel : 
as, the needle of a compass traverses. 5. To 
digress in speaking. Halliwell. 6. In the 
manege, to move or walk crosswise, as a horse 
that throws his croup to one side and his head 
to the other Traversing elevator, a traveler or 
traveling crane. Traversing jack, (a) A jack adapted 
for lifting engines or cars and drawing them upon the 
rails, (b) A lifting-jack with a standard movable upon 
its bed, so that it can be applied to different parts of an 
object, or can move an object horizontally while the bed 
remains fixed. E. H. Kni tjlt (.Traversing mandrel. 
See mandrel. Traversing plate(i!'Kt.),oneof two iron 
plates nailed on the hind part of a truck-carriage of guns 
where the handspike is used to traverse the gun. Trav- 
ersing platform, in artillery, a platform to support agun 
and carriage, which can be easily traversed or turned round 
a real or imaginary pivot near the muzzle by means of its 
trucks running on iron circular racers let into the ground. 
There are common, dwarf, and casemate traversing plat- 
forms. Traversing pulley, a pulley which runs over 
the rod or rope which supports it: applied in many ways 
for the transportation of weights. Traversing sawing- 
engine, a three-cylinder metal-sawing engine traveling 
longitudinally as it cuts the material, which remains sta- 
tionary. The power is derived from a hydraulic cylinder, 
and the speed is regulated by a slide-valve. Such saws for 
cutting cold steel are made of soft iron, and are caused to 
revolve with such speed as to melt the sparks of steel. 
Traversing screw-jack, a traversing jack. 
traverse-board(trav'ers-b6rd),. Naut., a thin 
circular piece of board, marked with all the 
points of the compass, and having eight holes 
bored for each point, and eight small pegs hang- 
ing from the center of the board, it was formerly 
used to record the different courses run by a ship during 
the period of a watch (four hours or eight half-hours). 
This record is kept by putting a peg in that point of the 
compass whereon the ship has run each half-hour. 
traverse-Circle (trav'ers-ser"kl), H. A circu- 
lar track on which the chassis traverse-wheels 
of a barbette carriage, mounted with a center 
or rear pintle, run while the gun is being point- 
ed. The arrangement enables the gun to be directed to 
any point of the Tiorizon. In permanent fortifications it 
is of iron, and is let into the stone-work ; in field-works it 
is frequently made up of pieces of timber mitered together 
and embedded in the earth. E. H. Knight. 
traversed (trav'erst), a. In her., same as con- 
tourne'. 
traverse-drill (trav'ers-dril), n. 1. A drill in 
which the drill-stock has a traverse motion for 
adjustment of the distances between holes 
formed by it. 2. A drill for boring slots. It is 
so arranged that, when the required depth has been at- 
tained, a lateral movement can be given to either the drill 
or the work. E. H. Knight. 
traverser (trav'er-ser), n. [< traverse + -eri.] 
1 . One who traverses ; specifically, in law, one 
who traverses or denies his adversary's alle- 
gation. 
The traversers appealed against the judgment, which 
was reversed by the House of Lords. 
W. S. Gregg, Irish Hist, for Eng. Readers, p. 147. 
2. In rail., a traverse-table. 
traverse-saw (trav'ers-sa), n. A cross-cut saw 
which moves on ways transversely to the piece. 
E. H. Knight. 
traverse-table (trav'ers-ta'bl), . 1. In 
navig., a table containing the difference of 
latitude and the departure made on each indi- 
vidual course and distance in a traverse, by 
means of which the difference of latitude and 
departure made upon the whole, as well as the 
equivalent single course and distance, may be 
readily determined. For facilitating the resolving 
of traverses, tables have been calculated for all units of 
distance run, from 1 to 300 miles or more, with every 
angle of the course which is a multiple of 10', together 
with the corresponding differences of latitude and de- 
parture. Tables in common use by navigators give the 
course for every quarter-point and for every degree, and 
the distance up to 300 miles. Such a table is useful for 
many other purposes. 
2. In rail., a platform having one or more 
tracks, and arranged to move laterally on 
wheels, for shifting carriages, etc., from one 
line of rails to another ; a traverser. 
travertin, travertine (trav'er-tin), n. [= F. 
travertin, < It. travertino, an altered form (due 
to some interference) of tibvrtino, < L. tibio-ti- 
nus, sc. lapis, travertin, lit. 'stone of Tibur,' so 
called as being formed by the waters of the 
Anip at Tibur, < Tibur, an ancient town of 
Latium, now Tirolt.~] The calcareous deposit 
from springs which occurs in many localities 
