thwarter

English

Etymology

thwart +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθwɔː(ɹ).tə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Noun

thwarter (plural thwarters)

1. A person or thing that thwarts.
   • 1802, (Author unknown), “Character of Suvarrof”, in Edinburgh Magazine: or Literary Miscellany‎^[1], page 119:

     If Paul, in diſmiſſing, had conſidered only his natural cruelty, or his folly, real or affected, perhaps the meaſure would have been applauded  but he appeared to aim at puniſing the man devoted to his mother, and the thwarter of his military innovations, which were too abrupt and too ill-directed

   • 1852, William Hepworth Dixon, John Howard, and the Prison-world of Europe‎^[2], page 347:

     By his strong remonstrances he saved many a poor fellow from the rebel's crime and doom ; but not without imminent peril to himself. Governments did not like the thwarter of their purposes.

   • 1927, Edward Alsworth Ross, Standing Room Only?‎^[3], page 6:

     As an orthodox clergyman Malthus was therefore hard put to it to account for our being launched into existence with a sex thirst that is a snare and a thwarter of human happiness.

   • 1988, Jeffrey Burton Russell, The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History‎^[4], →ISBN, page 44:

     In this Satan continues his Old Testament role of thwarter and obstructor, as he does later against Paul (1 Thess. 2.18)

   • 2006, Ximena Gallardo-C., C. Jason Smith, Alien Woman: The Making of Lt. Ellen Ripley‎^[5], →ISBN, page 151:

     Similarly, Ripley, as the thwarter of the wishes of the godlike Company, proclaims herself as the adversary of this narrative.

2. A disease of sheep, indicated by shaking, trembling, or convulsive motions.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “thwarter”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)