a bar, strip, rod, or other structural part placed or extending across; crosspiece; crossbar.
22.
a railing, lattice, or screen serving as a barrier.
23.
Nautical.
a.
the zigzag track of a vessel compelled by contrary winds or currents to sail on different courses.
b.
each of the runs in a single direction made in such sailing.
24.
Fortification.
a.
a defensive barrier, parapet, or the like, placed transversely.
b.
a defensive barrier thrown across the terreplein or the covered way of a fortification to protect it from enfilade fire.
25.
Gunnery. the horizontal turning of a gun so as to make it point in any required direction.
26.
Machinery.
a.
the motion of a lathe tool or grinding wheel along a piece of work.
b.
a part moving along a piece of work in this way, as the carriage of a lathe.
27.
Surveying. a series of intersecting surveyed lines whose lengths and angles of intersection, measured at instrument stations, are recorded graphically on a map and in numerical form in data tables. Compare closed traverse.
28.
Law. a formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the other side.
Origin: 1250–1300; (v.) Middle English traversen < Middle French traverser to cross < Late Latin trānsversāre, derivative of Latin trānsversus (see trans-, versus); (noun) Middle English travers(e) < Middle French traverse (< Latin trānsversa something lying across, feminine of trānsversus) and travers (< Latin trānsversum passage across, neuter of trānsversus)
early 14c., "pass across, over, or through," from O.Fr. traverser "to cross, thwart" (11c.), from V.L. *traversare, from L. transversare "to cross, throw across," from L. transversus "turn across" (see transverse). The noun meaning "act of passing through a gate, crossing
a bridge, etc." is recorded from 1347; meaning "a passage by which one may traverse" is recorded from 1670s. Military foritifcation sense of "barrier, barricade" is recorded from 1590s.