SWERVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Swerve

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/swərv/ Listen

verb

Swerve v. t. To turn aside.

Swerve v. i. (past & past part. swerved; pres. part. swerving)

To stray; to wander; to rope. (Obs.) "A maid thitherward did run, To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve."

To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point (of the sword) swerved."

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."

To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved."

To climb or move upward by winding or turning. "The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved."

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Etymology of 'Swerve'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Swerve" Quotes from Famous Books

... about her morning work. Her education was that of the soldier, who must know himself no more, whom no personal pain must swerve from the slightest minutiae of duty. So she was there, at her usual hour, dressed with the same cool neatness, her brown hair parted in satin bands, and only the colorless cheek and lip differing from the Mary ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IV, No. 22, Aug., 1859 • Various

... entwined with strange-looking and beautiful orchids. The cool, refreshing, musical sound of running water came up from the depths of the glen, although the stream itself was not visible from where I stood, while the subdued roar of a distant waterfall strongly tempted me to swerve from my path and follow the upward course of the glen. I surrendered myself to the temptation, rather erroneously arguing that every foot of rise must necessarily take me so much nearer the summit of the peak, whereas I eventually found that I had diverged almost at right angles to my ...

— Overdue - The Story of a Missing Ship • Harry Collingwood

... lightning and sharp peals of thunder, come wildly charging down the mountain trail, threatening to run quite over me in their mad career. Pulling my six-shooter, I fire a couple of shots in the air to attract their attention, when they rapidly swerve to the left, and go tearing frantically over the rolling hills on their wild flight to ...

— Around the World on a Bicycle V1 • Thomas Stevens

... were put in, and off we went, with a jerk and a jolt, and many injunctions to stick to the road. This was easier said than done; for when we came to the camp-fires of the lumberers whom I had seen at work yesterday, the glare frightened our horses, and caused them to swerve off the road, and dash into the bush by the side. This happened more than once; but even on the road itself the jerks and jolts were so bad that we were forced to go slowly, so that we only reached Albany at half-past eight instead of at six o'clock, and found everybody ...

— The Last Voyage - to India and Australia, in the 'Sunbeam' • Lady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey

... sledge slip over the brow of the descent. It got larger as it came down, but it did not run as fast as the toboggan. One could see it rock and swerve, shaking off loose peats, where the ground was broken, and Grace glanced at the steep pitch Kit had come ...

— The Buccaneer Farmer - Published In England Under The Title "Askew's Victory" • Harold Bindloss

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