Word: athwart
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...dust athwart the woods to flame...
...when some British soldiers, digging in during a skirmish with Arab tribesmen, found, fragments of old buildings in the Syrian desert sand. Excited archaeologists dug deeper, came upon the Syrian city of Dura-Europos, which in about A.D. 250 had been a garrisoned outpost of the Roman Empire, athwart the main trade route between Antioch and Seleucia. Dura had a large Jewish community and a sizable synagogue. On the synagogue's walls the excavators found murals illustrating Old Testament stories, with certain Talmudic touches added...
Though born in Madrid, far from the rugged Basque region athwart the western Pyrenees, Galindez considered himself a citizen of the short-lived autonomous Basque republic abolished by Generalissimo Francisco Franco.* As an exile in the Dominican Republic (1939-46) and the U.S., Galindez kept in touch with the Paris "government" headed by Jose de Aguirre, first and only President of the Basque republic. Aguirre himself appointed Galindez as the official Basque representative and fund raiser in the U.S. In his half-yearly statements filed with the foreign agent section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Galindez reported taking...
Burke's speed placed him athwart the Buka-Rabaul neck of the Solomon Sea nearly two hours ahead of schedule-but none too soon to intercept the two Japanese destroyers, themselves far ahead of intelligence estimates, that soon bore into range. Burke launched his attack with a memorable order: "Hold your hats, boys; here we go." His destroyers headed for the enemy at flank speed, launched their torpedoes, turned hard to starboard. Both Japanese ships exploded, and Burke wheeled to face three more enemy destroyers just arriving. The newcomers saw what had happened and decided to depart -hastily. They...
Like a tortoise shell on Asia's back, Afghanistan lies athwart the spiny Hindu Kush mountains, sloping northward to the Oxus River and Russia, eastward to the Khyber Pass. Perhaps no land has been so trodden upon by history and yet kept its independence. Darius, Alexander, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Babur all invaded it. In the 19th century the British Empire, following a northwesterly course, approached the Hindu Kush and southward-marching Russians. In the end, Britain and the Czars, fearful of what might happen if their armies met, agreed to keep Afghanistan as a buffer state...