Trav·erse, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Traversed p. pr. & vb. n. Traversing.]
 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.