1. [n]  travel across
2. [n]  taking a zigzag path on skis
3. [n]  a horizontal crosspiece across a window or separating a door from a window over it
4. [n]  a horizontal beam that extends across something
5. [v]  deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a legal suit
6. [v]  travel across or pass over; "The caravan covered almost 100 miles each day"
7. [v]  to cover a wide area; "Rivers traverse the valley floor", "The parking lot spans 3 acres"

1. \Trav"erse\, a. [OF. travers, L. transversus, p. p. of
   transvertere to turn or direct across. See {Transverse}, and
   cf. {Travers}.]
   Lying across; being in a direction across something else; as,
   paths cut with traverse trenches.
         Oak . . . being strong in all positions, may be better
         trusted in cross and traverse work.      --Sir H.
                                                  Wotton.
         The ridges of the fallow field traverse. --Hayward.
   {Traverse drill} (Mach.), a machine tool for drilling slots,
      in which the work or tool has a lateral motion back and
      forth; also, a drilling machine in which the spindle
      holder can be adjusted laterally.
   

2. \Trav"erse\, adv.
   Athwart; across; crosswise.
   

3. \Trav"erse\, n. [F. traverse. See {Traverse}, a.]
   1. Anything that traverses, or crosses. Specifically:
      (a) Something that thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; a cross
          accident; as, he would have succeeded, had it not been
          for unlucky traverses not under his control.
      (b) A barrier, sliding door, movable screen, curtain, or
          the like.
                Men drinken and the travers draw anon.
                                                  --Chaucer.
                And the entrance of the king, The first traverse
                was drawn.                        --F. Beaumont.
      (c) (Arch.) A gallery or loft of communication from side
          to side of a church or other large building. --Gwilt.
      (d) (Fort.) A work thrown up to intercept an enfilade, or
          reverse fire, along exposed passage, or line of work.
      (e) (Law) A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged
          by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings.
          The technical words introducing a traverse are absque
          hoc, without this; that is, without this which
          follows.
      (f) (Naut.) The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in
          passing from one place to another; a compound course.
      (g) (Geom.) A line lying across a figure or other lines; a
          transversal.
      (h) (Surv.) A line surveyed across a plot of ground.
      (i) (Gun.) The turning of a gun so as to make it point in
          any desired direction.
   2. A turning; a trick; a subterfuge. [Obs.]
   {To work, or solve}, {a traverse} (Naut.), to reduce a series
      of courses or distances to an equivalent single one; to
      calculate the resultant of a traverse.
   {Traverse board} (Naut.), a small board hung in the steerage,
      having the points of the compass marked on it, and for
      each point as many holes as there are half hours in a
      watch. It is used for recording the courses made by the
      ship in each half hour, by putting a peg in the
      corresponding hole.
   {Traverse jury} (Law), a jury that tries cases; a petit jury.
   {Traverse sailing} (Naut.), a sailing by compound courses;
      the method or process of finding the resulting course and
      distance from a series of different shorter courses and
      distances actually passed over by a ship.
   {Traverse table}.
      (a) (Naut. & Surv.) A table by means of which the
          difference of latitude and departure corresponding to
          any given course and distance may be found by
          inspection. It contains the lengths of the two sides
          of a right-angled triangle, usually for every quarter
          of a degree of angle, and for lengths of the
          hypothenuse, from 1 to 100.
      (b) (Railroad) A platform with one or more tracks, and
          arranged to move laterally on wheels, for shifting
          cars, etc., from one line of track to another.
   

4. \Trav"erse\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Traversed}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Traversing}.] [Cf. F. traverser. See {Traverse}, a.]
   1. To lay in a cross direction; to cross.
            The parts should be often traversed, or crossed, by
            the flowing of the folds.             --Dryden.
   2. To cross by way of opposition; to thwart with obstacles;
      to obstruct; to bring to naught.
            I can not but . . . admit the force of this
            reasoning, which I yet hope to traverse. --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
   3. To wander over; to cross in traveling; as, to traverse the
      habitable globe.
            What seas you traversed, and what fields you fought.
                                                  --Pope.
   4. To pass over and view; to survey carefully.
            My purpose is to traverse the nature, principles,
            and properties of this detestable vice --
            ingratitude.                          --South.
   5. (Gun.) To turn to the one side or the other, in order to
      point in any direction; as, to traverse a cannon.
   6. (Carp.) To plane in a direction across the grain of the
      wood; as, to traverse a board.
   7. (Law) To deny formally, as what the opposite party has
      alleged. When the plaintiff or defendant advances new
      matter, he avers it to be true, and traverses what the
      other party has affirmed. To traverse an indictment or an
      office is to deny it.
            And save the expense of long litigious laws, Where
            suits are traversed, and so little won That he who
            conquers is but last undone.          --Dryden.
   {To traverse a yard} (Naut.), to brace it fore and aft.
   

5. \Trav"erse\, v. i.
   1. To use the posture or motions of opposition or
      counteraction, as in fencing.
            To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee
            traverse.                             --Shak.
   2. To turn, as on a pivot; to move round; to swivel; as, the
      needle of a compass traverses; if it does not traverse
      well, it is an unsafe guide.
   3. To tread or move crosswise, as a horse that throws his
      croup to one side and his head to the other.
   

traversal