thwart: [13] Thwart was originally an adverb and adjective, meaning ‘across, crosswise’. It was however used as a verb, meaning ‘obstruct’ (from the metaphorical notion of ‘crossing’ someone) as early as the 13th century. It was borrowed from Old Norse thvert, the neuter form of thverr ‘transverse’. This went back to a prehistoric Germanic *thwerkhwaz (possible source also of English queer), which in turn was descended from Indo-European *twork-, *twerk- ‘twist’ (source also of English torch, torment, torture, etc).
How the noun thwart ‘seat across a boat’ [18] fits into the picture is not altogether clear. Its modern meaning clearly connects it with thwart ‘across’, but the notion of ‘crosswise’ may have been a secondary development. For an earlier noun thought ‘seat in a boat’ existed, which came ultimately from Old English thofta ‘rower’s bench’, and it could be that thwart the modern English noun represents a blending, both formal and semantic, of thwart ‘across’ with the now obsolete thought. => queer, torch, torment, torture
thwart (adv.)
c. 1200, from a Scandinavian source, probably Old Norse þvert "across," originally neuter of thverr (adj.) "transverse, across," cognate with Old English þweorh "transverse, perverse, angry, cross," from Proto-Germanic *thwerh- "twisted, oblique" (cognates: Middle Dutch dwers, Dutch dwars "cross-grained, contrary," Old High German twerh, German quer, Gothic þwairhs "angry"), altered (by influence of *thwer- "to turn") from *therkh-, from PIE *terkw- "to twist" (cognates: Latin torquere "to twist," Sanskrit tarkuh "spindle," Old Church Slavonic traku "band, girdle," Old High German drahsil "turner," German drechseln "to turn on a lathe"), possibly a variant of *twerk- "to cut." From mid-13c. as an adjective.
thwart (v.)
"oppose, hinder," mid-13c., from thwart (adv.). Related: Thwarted; thwarting.
thwart 双语例句
1. The accounting firm deliberately destroyed documents to thwart government investigators.
会计事务所故意毁坏文件，阻挠政府调查工作。
来自柯林斯例句
2. to thwart sb's plans
阻挠某人的计划
来自《权威词典》
3. We must thwart his malevolent schemes.
我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. The Everton keeper needed all his courage to thwart a charging Vinny Jones in full flow.
埃弗顿的守门员需要鼓足全部勇气才有可能抵挡住状态正佳的维尼·琼斯的冲锋射门。
来自柯林斯例句
5. He sat down and, clinging to the thwart, began to sob quietly.