Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Situated or lying across; crosswise.
- noun Something, such as a part or beam, that is transverse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In mathematics, a transverse axis.
- Crosswise; across; transversely.
- Lying or being across or in a cross direction; cross; thwart.
- Collateral.
- In anatomy and zoology, broader or wider than long; having its major diameter crosswise: noting various parts or organs which lie or are taken to run across other parts, or especially across the long axis of the whole body. See
transversalis and transversus. - In botany:
- Right and left or collateral with reference to the median plane.
- Being at right angles to the axial direction: for example, see
transverse partition , below. - In herpetology, specifically noting a bone of the skull which usually unites the palatine and the pterygoid bones with the maxilla.
- In heraldry, crossing the escutcheon from one side to the opposite one.
- Of the brain, a fissure beneath the fornix and the hemispheres, above the optic thalami, through which membranes and vessels are continued from the pia mater into the ventricles of the brain.
- noun In anatomy, a transversalis or transversus: as, the transverse of the abdomen, perineum, or sole of the foot.
- To overturn; turn topsyturvy.
- To change; transpose. Compare
transprose . - To transgress; run counter.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Anything that is transverse or athwart.
- noun (Geom.) The longer, or transverse, axis of an ellipse.
- adjective Lying or being across, or in a crosswise direction; athwart; -- often opposed to
longitudinal . - adjective (Geom.) that axis which passes through the foci.
- adjective (Bot.) a partition, as of a pericarp, at right angles with the valves, as in the siliques of mustard.
- transitive verb rare To overturn; to change.
- transitive verb obsolete To change from prose into verse, or from verse into prose.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Situated orlying across ; side to side,relative to somedefined "forward" direction. - adjective geometry Not
tangent : so that a nondegenerateangle is formed between the two things intersecting. - verb obsolete To change from
prose intoverse , or from verse into prose.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective extending or lying across; in a crosswise direction; at right angles to the long axis
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The term transverse is equivalent to lateral, in flying machine parlance, but there is this distinction: Transverse has reference to a machine or object which, like the main planes of an aeroplane, are broader, (that is, -- from end to end) than their length, (from front to rear).
Aeroplanes 1915
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Dr. Tyndall also alludes to another structure of the same kind, which he calls transverse structure, where the blue bands extend in crescent-shaped curves, more or less arched, across the surface of the glacier.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 74, December, 1863 Various
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This is often called the transverse tarsal joint, and it can, with the subordinate joints of the tarsus, replace the ankle-joint in a great measure when the latter has become ankylosed.
III. Syndesmology. 7d. Talocrural Articulation or Ankle-joint 1918
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A rare virus called transverse myelitis had attacked his spinal column.
Island Packet: Home 2008
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He was born with what is known as a transverse facial cleft, giving him the appearance of having two faces.
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The southern portion of this ecoregion is a Center of Plant Diversity known as the transverse dry belt, and in central French Guiana is another Center known as the Saul Region.
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WILLIAMS: I first came up with a planting technique called transverse planting, which involves laying the plant on its side and planting it horizontally, compared to the traditional vertical.
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Rarely, the baby may lie diagonally with the shoulder ready to come out first; this is called transverse lie (see Figure 11.3).
Chapter 13 1995
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Different films are available which shrink by a known amount from 10 - 35% across the film (known as the transverse direction) and by 20 -
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The longitudinal framework was divided by a series of rings, called transverse frames, into seventeen compartments containing fabric gasbags.
British Airships, Past, Present, and Future George Whale
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