n. [ Through French, fr. L. trabs, trabis, a beam; cf. OF. tref a beam, also F. travail a frame to confine a horse, OE. trave, trevys, travise, It. travaglio, F. travée the space between two beams. ] 1. (Arch.) A crossbeam; a lay of joists. Maundrell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A wooden frame to confine an unruly horse or ox while shoeing. [ 1913 Webster ]

She sprung as a colt doth in the trave. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To journey over; to traverse; as, to travel the continent. “I travel this profound.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To force to journey. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They shall not be traveled forth of their own franchises. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of traveling, or journeying from place to place; a journey. [ 1913 Webster ]

With long travel I am stiff and weary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His travels ended at his country seat. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. An account, by a traveler, of occurrences and observations during a journey; as, a book of travels; -- often used as the title of a book; as, Travels in Italy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) The length of stroke of a reciprocating piece; as, the travel of a slide valve. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Labor; parturition; travail. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Traveled r Travelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Traveling or Travelling. ] [ Properly, to labor, and the same word as travail. ] 1. To labor; to travail. [ Obsoles. ] Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To go or march on foot; to walk; as, to travel over the city, or through the streets. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To pass by riding, or in any manner, to a distant place, or to many places; to journey; as, a man travels for his health; he is traveling in California. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To pass; to go; to move. [ 1913 Webster ]

Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having made journeys; having gained knowledge or experience by traveling; hence, knowing; experienced. [ Written also travelled. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The traveled thane, Athenian Aberdeen. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also traveler. ] 1. One who travels; one who has traveled much. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A commercial agent who travels for the purpose of receiving orders for merchants, making collections, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mach.) A traveling crane. See under Crane. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Spinning) The metal loop which travels around the ring surrounding the bobbin, in a ring spinner. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) An iron encircling a rope, bar, spar, or the like, and sliding thereon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Traveler's joy (Bot.), the Clematis vitalba, a climbing plant with white flowers. --
Traveler's tree. (Bot.) See Ravenala. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Harassed; fatigued with travel. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ F. travers, breadth, extent from side, à travers, en travers, de travers, across, athwart. See Traverse, a. ] Across; athwart. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The earl . . . caused . . . high trees to be hewn down, and laid travers one over another. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being traversed, or passed over; as, a traversable region. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Deniable; specifically (Law), liable to legal objection; as, a traversable presentment. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. traverse. See Traverse, a. ] 1. Anything that traverses, or crosses. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) Something that thwarts, crosses, or obstructs; a cross accident; as, he would have succeeded, had it not been for unlucky traverses not under his control. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) A barrier, sliding door, movable screen, curtain, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men drinken and the travers draw anon. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the entrance of the king,
The first traverse was drawn. F. Beaumont. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) (Arch.) A gallery or loft of communication from side to side of a church or other large building. Gwilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) (Fort.) A work thrown up to intercept an enfilade, or reverse fire, along exposed passage, or line of work. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) (Law) A formal denial of some matter of fact alleged by the opposite party in any stage of the pleadings. The technical words introducing a traverse are absque hoc, without this; that is, without this which follows. [ 1913 Webster ]

(f) (Naut.) The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course. [ 1913 Webster ]

(g) (Geom.) A line lying across a figure or other lines; a transversal. [ 1913 Webster ]

(h) (Surv.) A line surveyed across a plot of ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

(i) (Gun.) The turning of a gun so as to make it point in any desired direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A turning; a trick; a subterfuge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To work a traverse or
To solve a traverse (Naut.), to reduce a series of courses or distances to an equivalent single one; to calculate the resultant of a traverse. --
Traverse board (Naut.), a small board hung in the steerage, having the points of the compass marked on it, and for each point as many holes as there are half hours in a watch. It is used for recording the courses made by the ship in each half hour, by putting a peg in the corresponding hole. --
Traverse jury (Law), a jury that tries cases; a petit jury. --
Traverse sailing (Naut.), a sailing by compound courses; the method or process of finding the resulting course and distance from a series of different shorter courses and distances actually passed over by a ship. --
Traverse table. (a) (Naut. & Surv.) A table by means of which the difference of latitude and departure corresponding to any given course and distance may be found by inspection. It contains the lengths of the two sides of a right-angled triangle, usually for every quarter of a degree of angle, and for lengths of the hypothenuse, from 1 to 100. (b) (Railroad) A platform with one or more tracks, and arranged to move laterally on wheels, for shifting cars, etc., from one line of track to another. [ 1913 Webster ]