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Swerve   /swərv/   Listen
verb
Swerve  v. t.  To turn aside.


Swerve  v. i.  (past & past part. swerved; pres. part. swerving)  
1.
To stray; to wander; to rope. (Obs.) "A maid thitherward did run, To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve."
2.
To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point (of the sword) swerved."
3.
To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate. "I swerve not from thy commandments." "They swerve from the strict letter of the law." "Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion."
4.
To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved."
5.
To climb or move upward by winding or turning. "The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Swerve" Quotes from Famous Books



... into the saloon, suddenly to check his impetus, to swerve aside toward the bar and halt. The door had not ceased swinging when again it was propelled inward, this time to admit Helen Rayner, ...
— The Man of the Forest • Zane Grey
... Ootah pushed forward after the moving team. He knew they were being carried steadily and slowly seaward, but he had hopes that the ice field would swerve landward toward the south where an armlike glacier jutted, elbow-fashion, into the ...
— The Eternal Maiden • T. Everett Harre
... been led or driven into war on the false theory that they were to be benefited somehow—they knew not how. They are essentially tired of the war, and would slink back home if they could. These are the real tiers etat of the South, and are hardly worthy a thought; for they swerve to and fro according to events which they do not comprehend or attempt to shape. When the time for reconstruction comes, they will want the old political system of caucuses, Legislatures, etc., to amuse them and make them believe they are real sovereigns; but in all things they will ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman
... stooping on the tiny beaches, the brown figures of men, women, and children grubbing in the sand in search of turtles' eggs, would rise up, crooked elbow aloft and hand over the eyes, to watch this monthly apparition glide straight on, swerve off—and go by. Their ears caught the panting of that ship; their eyes followed her till she passed between the two capes of the mainland going at full speed as though she hoped to make her way unchecked into the very bosom of ...
— End of the Tether • Joseph Conrad
... detect these steady currents when wind and waves are in tumultuous confusion? They are always present. No winds blow them aside, no waves drench their subtle fire, no mountains make them swerve. But how shall ...
— Among the Forces • Henry White Warren


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