traverser

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
traverse /ˈtravəs, trəˈvəːs/

▶verb

• 1 travel or extend across or through.

  ■ cross a rock face by means of a series of sideways movements from one practicable line of ascent or descent to another.

  ■ ski diagonally across (a slope), losing only a little height.

• 2 move back and forth or sideways.

  ■ turn (a large gun or other device on a pivot) to face a different direction.

• 3 Law deny (an allegation) in pleading.

  ■ archaic thwart (a plan).

▶noun

• 1 an act of traversing.

  ■ a zigzag course taken by a ship.

• 2 a part of a structure that extends or is fixed across something.

  ■ a gallery extending from side to side of a church or other building.

• 3 a mechanism enabling a large gun to be traversed.

  ■ the sideways movement of a part in a machine.

• 4 a single line of survey, usually plotted from compass bearings and chained or paced distances between angular points.

• 5 Military a pair of right-angled bends incorporated in a trench to avoid enfilading fire.

– derivatives
traversable adjective,
traversal noun,
traverser noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. traverser, from late L. traversare; the noun is from OFr. travers (masc.), traverse (fem.), partly based on traverser.