Swerve

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /swɜː(ɹ)v/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)v

Origin

Old English sweorfan, compare Dutch zwerven.

Full definition of swerve

Verb

1. To stray; to wander; to rove.
• Sir Philip SidneyA maid thitherward did run,
  To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.
2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
• Sir Philip SidneyThe point 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.
• Book of Common PrayerI swerve not from thy commandments.
• ClarendonThey swerve from the strict letter of the law.
• Atterburymany who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion
4. To bend; to incline.
• MiltonThe battle swerved.
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
• DrydenThe tree was high;
  Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.
6. To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
7. of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
• 2011, January 8, Chris Bevan, Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds, Snodgrass also saw a free-kick swerve just wide before Arsenal, with Walcott and Fabregas by now off the bench, turned their vastly superior possession into chances in the closing moments

Related terms

• swarf