athwartships

American

[uh-thwawrt-ships] / əˈθwɔrtˌʃɪps /

adverb

Nautical.

from one side of a ship to the other.

athwartships British

/ əˈθwɔːtˌʃɪps /

adverb

nautical from one side to the other of a vessel at right angles to the keel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of athwartships

First recorded in 1710–20; athwart + ship ¹ + -s ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Steel beds on athwartships stringers hold the engines.

From Time Magazine Archive

The master stateroom is beneath the pilothouse and has a queen-size berth athwartships.

From Time Magazine Archive

Trapdoors in the floor of the airship were slid forward and athwartships, exposing grey space through a T-shaped aperture slightly larger than the dimensions of the plane.

From Time Magazine Archive

Overnighting The berth, arranged athwartships, compromises the space available for tossing and turning, but it makes for a more open layout in the cabin.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ankle deep in water, I made my way forward, till in the dim light I perceived a stout bulkhead running athwartships and pierced by a little sliding door, or hatch.

From The Quest of the 'Golden Hope' A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023