traverse

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To travel or pass across, over, or through.
• intransitive verb To move to and fro over; cross and recross.
• intransitive verb To go up, down, or across (a slope) diagonally, as in skiing.
• intransitive verb To cause to move laterally on a pivot; swivel.
• intransitive verb To extend across; cross.
• intransitive verb To look over carefully; examine.
• intransitive verb Archaic To go counter to; thwart.
• intransitive verb To deny formally (an allegation of fact by the opposing party) in a lawsuit.
• intransitive verb To join issue upon (an indictment).
• intransitive verb To survey by traverse.
• intransitive verb Nautical To brace (a yard) fore and aft.
• intransitive verb To move to the side or back and forth.
• intransitive verb To turn laterally; swivel.
• intransitive verb To go up, down, or across a slope diagonally or in a zigzag manner, as in skiing.
• intransitive verb To slide one's blade with pressure toward the hilt of the opponent's foil in fencing.
• noun A passing across, over, or through.
• noun A route or path across or over.
• noun Something that lies across, especially.
• noun An intersecting line; a transversal.
• noun Architecture A structural crosspiece; a transom.
• noun A gallery, deck, or loft crossing from one side of a building to the other.
• noun A railing, curtain, screen, or similar barrier.
• noun A defensive barrier across a rampart or trench, as a bank of earth thrown up to protect against enfilade fire.
• noun Something that obstructs and thwarts; an obstacle.
• noun Nautical The zigzag route of a vessel forced by contrary winds to sail on different courses.
• noun A zigzag or diagonal course on a steep slope, as in skiing.
• noun A lateral movement, as of a lathe tool across a piece of wood.
• noun A part of a mechanism that moves in this manner.
• noun The lateral swivel of a mounted gun.
• noun A line established by sighting in surveying a tract of land.
• noun Law A formal denial of the opposing party's allegation of fact in a lawsuit.
• adjective Lying or extending across; transverse.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To cause to move across; propel.
• Situated or acting across or athwart; thwart; transverse; crossing.
• In heraldry, crossing the escutcheon from side to side, so as to touch both the dexter and sinister edges.
• noun Anything that traverses or crosses; a bar or barrier
• noun A railing or lattice of wood or metal.
• noun A seat or stall in a church with a lattice, curtain, or screen before it.
• noun 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.
• noun In weaving, a skeleton frame to hold the bobbins of yarn, which are wound from it upon the warp-frame.
• noun That which thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; an untoward accident.
• noun A dispute; a controversy.
• noun In fortification, an earthen mask, similar to a parapet, thrown across the covered way of a permanent work to protect it from the effects of an enfilading five.
• noun The act of traversing or traveling over; a passage; a crossing.
• noun In gunnery, the turning of a gun so as to make it point in any required direction.
• noun Nautical, 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.