athwart the road
- idiom
- Archaic
:
a través de la carretera
- A fallen branch lay athwart the road, making it impossible for cars to pass.
Examples
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A carriage was parked athwart the road, creating a sudden barrier for oncoming traffic.
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Don't park athwart the road!
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After the storm, several signs stood athwart the road, warning drivers of hazards ahead.
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A tree lay athwart the road.
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A fallen tree lay athwart the road, blocking all vehicles from passing by.
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After the accident, debris was spread athwart the road, causing major delays.
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They found their truck stopped athwart the road, unable to move due to the heavy snow.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'athwart' means 'across' and combined with 'road' yields the literal spatial meaning 'across the road' or lying across/obstructing it. Although 'athwart' is literary/archaic in register, the semantic pattern (preposition meaning 'across' + noun) is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Athwart the road comes from the old word athwart, which simply meant 'across' or 'from side to side'. Picture a fallen tree or a carriage lying athwart the road, blocking the way. That's why it now means 'positioned or lying across the road'.