Traverse \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.