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Veer   /vɪr/   Listen
Veer

verb
(past & past part. veered; pres. part. veering)
1.
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly.  Synonyms: curve, cut, sheer, slew, slue, swerve, trend.  "The motorbike veered to the right"
2.
Shift to a clockwise direction.



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"Veer" Quotes from Famous Books



... coincidence the English flag-ship was also called "Hero"), thus having enemy's ships on both sides, and opened fire. The "Hannibal" anchored ahead of her commodore (b), and so close that the latter had to veer cable and drop astern (a); but her captain, ignorant of Suffren's intention to disregard the neutrality of the port, had not obeyed the order to clear for action, and was wholly unprepared,—his decks lumbered with water-casks which had been got up ...
— The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 • A. T. Mahan

... reasons may be wrong. Nor would I barter certain knacks of thoughts—serious and humorous—for the renewed ability to leap across a five-foot bar. I am less fearful of the world and its accidents. I have less embarrassment before people. I am less moody. I tack and veer less among my betters for some meaner profit. Surely I ...
— Chimney-Pot Papers • Charles S. Brooks

... in less than five seconds. I only had to veer my gun two inches. My hand was on the trigger, and with a perfect "bead" on his left shoulder—right where the old guide had said the night before was the ...
— "Say Fellows—" - Fifty Practical Talks with Boys on Life's Big Issues • Wade C. Smith

... won't be able to stand this all the year round," said Roger. "By George, no! not with a wagon-load of Leliuses!" Then, with a sudden veer and a flush: "I say, French, do you know what sort of state the Fairmile marriage is in by now? I think that lady might have spared her ...
— Marriage a la mode • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... time, and filled away down the river close together off the pirate's starboard bow. Bonnet raced up abeam, firing broadsides as fast as his men could load, and his cannonade was answered in kind from the Henry. She and the Sea Nymph began to veer over to port, forcing the black sloop closer and closer to shore, but the buccaneer Captain refused to take in an inch of sail. His course was all but justified. The speedy craft which he commanded gained on her foes hand over hand till, when only a few hundred yards from the narrow ...
— The Black Buccaneer • Stephen W. Meader

... of four branches—the cities, namely, of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and the "freedom of Bruges;" Brabant of Louvain, Brussels, Bois le Due, and Antwerp, four great cities, without representation of nobility or clergy; Zeland, of one clerical person, the abbot of Middelburg, one noble, the Marquis of Veer and Vliessingen, and six chief cities; Utrecht, of three branches—the nobility, the clergy, and five cities. These, and other provinces, constituted in similar manner, were supposed to be actually present at the diet when assembled. The chief ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... benefice in the reign of Henry VIII. and the three succeeding monarchs, and that he died in the forty-first year of Elizabeth. "This man was twice a Protestant and twice a Papist; and when reproached for the unsteadiness of his principles, which could thus suffer him to veer with every change of administration, replied, 'that he had always governed himself by what he thought a very laudable principle, which was, never on any terms, if he could avoid it, to part with his vicarage." This ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 17, No. - 482, March 26, 1831 • Various

... than a juxtaposition of traits which inspire more dismay than hope; a restless and excitable spirit, nervously eager to undertake a hundred things at the same time, passionately fond of almost morbidly exalted states of mind, and ready at any moment to veer completely round from calm and profound meditation to a state of violence and uproar. In his case there were no hereditary or family influences at work to constrain him to the sedulous study of one particular art. Painting, versifying, acting, ...
— Thoughts out of Season (Part One) • Friedrich Nietzsche

... Dowsett. That will certainly be best; but I think it will be prudent, before we leave, to run out a kedge with forty or fifty fathoms of cable towards the middle of the stream, and then veer out the cable on her anchor so as to let her ride thirty fathoms or so farther out. We left six men sluicing her side and deck, but it certainly would be prudent to get her out a bit farther. Even here, the heat is as much as ...
— When London Burned • G. A. Henty

... the Answer he demanded, that inexplicable counter-influence cut across the current of his thought. Strive as he would against it, he must veer to the north, toward the pear trees. Obeying it, he turned, and, still wondering, took a step in that direction, then another and another. The next moment he came abruptly to himself, in the black shadow of the pear trees ...
— The Octopus • Frank Norris

... withstand it? In this poor National Convention, broken, bewildered by long terror, perturbations, and guillotinement, there is no Pilot, there is not now even a Danton, who could undertake to steer you anywhither, in such press of weather. The utmost a bewildered Convention can do, is to veer, and trim, and try to keep itself steady: and rush, undrowned, before the wind. Needless to struggle; to fling helm a-lee, and make 'bout ship! A bewildered Convention sails not in the teeth of the wind; but is rapidly blown round again. So strong is ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... hiding the short black pier, As the last white signal's seen; The points run in, and the houses veer, And the great bluff stands between. So darkness swallows each far white speck On many a wharf and quay. The night comes down on a restless deck, — Grim cliffs — and — ...
— In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses • Henry Lawson

... levels of the mere She glides on slanting skate; She loves in fairy curves to veer And weave her figure eight. Bright flower in fur, I would thy feet Could weave my heart and thine, my sweet, Thus into one glad life complete! Harsh winter, rage thy rudest: Freeze, freeze, thou churlish ...
— The Idler, Volume III., Issue XIII., February 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly. Edited By Jerome K. Jerome & Robert Barr • Various

... got down stairs I took my wife by the hand, and said, "Be of good cheer, we are at least safe for some time, and if the wind should veer round, we may yet reach the land that lies but a short ...
— The Swiss Family Robinson Told in Words of One Syllable • Mary Godolphin

... full-charged with heavy classic artillery of Phoebus and Neptune and Tellus and Hymen, than there is between the straightforward agents of their own destiny whom we meet in the first Hamlet and the obliquely moving patients who veer sideways to ...
— A Study of Shakespeare • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... overhead Mt. Erebus. However then and on subsequent occasions the sightseeing aircraft to the McMurdo area arrived in the general vicinity of Cape Hallett to find clear air further on and took the opportunity of visual meteorological conditions to veer laterally from the direct computer flight track from Cape Hallett by tracking to the west along the coast of Victoria Land and eventually down McMurdo Sound over the flat sea ice. Ross Island was thus left to the east while ...
— Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster • Sir Owen Woodhouse, R. B. Cooke, Ivor L. M. Richardson, Duncan

... samisen And koto I should hear! Tinkle on weirder tinkle thro The strangely wistful ear What shadows on the shoji-door Of my dim soul should veer All night in sleep, and haunt the light Of ...
— Nirvana Days • Cale Young Rice

... of the Egyptian authorities that the Dervish power was declining, his tale of 'Fire and Sword in the Soudan' increased the horror and anger of thoughtful people in England at the cruelties of the Khalifa. Public opinion began to veer ...
— The River War • Winston S. Churchill

... happened, Nueva was constrained to come to anchor close to the fleet of the enemy, and gave orders to keep strict watch during the night. At one time they were heard rowing towards our fleet, and it was supposed they intended setting our ships on fire; on which Neuva ordered to veer out more cable, to get farther off. Perceiving that the boats of the enemy continued to follow, he commanded a gun to be fired at them, on which they made off; and the wind coming off shore and somewhat fair, they made sail ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... they sat in the rough easy-chairs on the porch in front of the office and looked up at the first rays of light on the splendid, rugged peak above. Dick's mind reverted to the lumberman's daughter, as does the needle veer to the magnet; and for a long time they sat there, until the fires of their cigars glowed like stars. The moon came up, and the cross was outlined, dimly, above them, and against the background of black, cast upon the somber, starlit blue of ...
— The Plunderer • Roy Norton

... him back again into the pit which has no sides for climbing.' He paused a minute, and then added, 'A year ago I thought he had touched you, this Britisher, with his raw humour and manners; but, my faith, how swiftly does a woman's fancy veer!' At that I said calmly to him, 'You must remember that then he was not thought so base.' 'Yes, yes,' he replied; 'and a woman loves to pity the captive, whatever his fault, if he be presentable and of some notice or talent. And Moray has gifts,' he went on. ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker

... that steers by this unfading star Needs never other compass. All the far, Wide waste shall blaze with guiding light, though rocks And sirens meet and mock its straining gaze. Secure from storms and all Life's battle-shocks It shall not veer from any ...
— Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul • Various

... bottom of that wide, flat valley. A network of washes cut up the whole center of it, and they were all as dry as bleached bone. To cross these Slone had only to keep Wildfire's trail. And it was proof of Nagger's quality that he did not have to veer from ...
— Wildfire • Zane Grey

... of four troops, had been detached from the main column three days previous with orders to follow the trail of a war-party of Sioux, and smite them hip and thigh if he could catch them in forty-eight hours; if not, to veer around for the valley and rejoin the column at its bivouac among the foot-hills. There they should rest and recuperate. The pursued Indians, fortunately, had turned southward and gone jogging leisurely away towards their ...
— Under Fire • Charles King

... longer than three o'clock the next morning, when it was succeeded by a thick fog, sleet, and snow. The wind also veered to N.E. and blew a fresh gale, with which we stood to S.E. It increased in such a manner, that before noon we were brought under close-reefed top-sails. The wind continued to veer to the north, at last fixed at N.W., and was attended with ...
— A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, Volume 1 • James Cook

... its mother, the dying calf made spasmodic efforts to swim that were futile and caused it to veer and wallow ...
— Michael, Brother of Jerry • Jack London

... this immense flat must be covered with water. How wide it was, and empty! Shefford experienced again a feeling that had been novel to him—and it was that he was loose, free, unanchored, ready to veer with the wind. From the foot of the slope the water hole had appeared to be a few hundred rods out in the valley. But the small size of the figures made Shefford doubt; and he had to travel many times a few hundred rods before those ...
— The Rainbow Trail • Zane Grey

... veer one iota from that procession and soon there will come rumbling up to the curb a big black Maria and off he's whisked away from his fellows. Let him but get into the wrong house or take the wrong overcoat or chuck the wrong person under the chin—Pff! Let him ...
— Vignettes of San Francisco • Almira Bailey

... walked eastward, keeping as well in to the house shadows as he could. He saw the man cross the wider traffic-way that ran north and south, look quickly up and down the deserted street and then, as he gained the shadow of the next house wall, veer close in to an iron paling. Then there was a movement which Trotter could not ...
— Stories from Everybody's Magazine • 1910 issues of Everybody's Magazine

... direction was noted in the wind. Beginning by blowing directly up stream, it had continued to veer until its course was almost directly opposite, so that, had the flatboat ventured out in the current with its sail still spread, its progress down stream would have been ...
— The Phantom of the River • Edward S. Ellis

... thoughts are like these sail Drifting the river's surface over; They veer about with every gale— The river ...
— The New Penelope and Other Stories and Poems • Frances Fuller Victor

... which will remedy this, and it would be well for the boy to learn this for himself as early in his career as possible, and correct the tendency to veer ...
— Practical Mechanics for Boys • J. S. Zerbe

... and spent a moment looking at nothing in particular, he decided that the best thing to do was to veer around and have some more; in taking this step, however, there was some sort of error in the proceedings and he went down forward on his knees. A moment later the hind legs stumbled and fell, and ...
— The Wrong Woman • Charles D. Stewart

... however, probably soon know; and when I do, I will send off this, but not before, lest the weathercock should veer ...
— Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third - From the Original Family Documents, Volume 1 (of 2) • The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos

... he spoken when he saw the stag veer about and fix its glances rigidly on the bushes to the left side of the glade. These were parted by a delicate hand, and through the opening appeared the slight figure of a page. It was Maid Marian, come back again to ...
— Robin Hood • J. Walker McSpadden

... incongruous ones? P. Certainly; he will endeavour to rouse himself from a disagreeable reverie, as from the night-mare. And from this may be discovered the line of boundary between the Tragic and the Horrid: which line, however, will veer a little this way or that, according to the prevailing manners of the age or country, and the peculiar associations of ideas, or idiosyncracy of mind, of individuals. For instance, if an artist should represent the death of an officer in battle, by shewing ...
— The Botanic Garden. Part II. - Containing The Loves of the Plants. A Poem. - With Philosophical Notes. • Erasmus Darwin

... battery, the execution of which must have been noted on the Russian side, I had a fine chance of experiencing shrapnel bursting overhead. It was a queer sensation to peer through field glasses and see the Russian shells veer a few hundred feet to the right. I saw one strike a windmill, shattering the long arms and crumpling it over in a slow burning heap. Then we beat a retreat, further toward ...
— America's War for Humanity • Thomas Herbert Russell

... in brush, Of beasts, the mountain-rangers, when but once They scent the certain footsteps of the way, Thus thou thyself in themes like these alone Can hunt from thought to thought, and keenly wind Along even onward to the secret places And drag out truth. But, if thou loiter loth Or veer, however little, from the point, This I can promise, Memmius, for a fact: Such copious drafts my singing tongue shall pour From the large well-springs of my plenished breast That much I dread slow age will ...
— Of The Nature of Things • [Titus Lucretius Carus] Lucretius

... our other self responded, "as when in the german the fair debutante sees the leader advancing toward her with a splendid and costly favor, only to have him veer abruptly off to bestow it on some fat elderling who is going to give the next ball. But Mr. Pulitzer, though he has these spare intimations of pity, has none of the sentiment which there is rather a swash of in the Potiphar Papers. It's the difference between the Mid-Victorian and the Early ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells

... were put up so you wouldn't 'strike' them," observed Tilly, with smooth politeness; "but then, of course if you do strike them, it is quite to be expected that you veer off into the Atlantic, and never see land again. Besides, I found all those lighthouses and things on a paper last night, but it was the southern trip that did all that. Maybe we, going north, don't do the same things at all. I sha'n't ...
— The Sunbridge Girls at Six Star Ranch • Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

... The Ice Wolf prowls, The winds they shift and veer, But calm I sleep, And faith I keep In the word of ...
— Fifty years & Other Poems • James Weldon Johnson

... watched the Spaniard. He saw her veer a point or so to starboard, heading straight to intercept them, and he observed that although this manceuvre brought her fully a point nearer to the wind than the Swallow, yet, equipped as she was with half ...
— The Sea-Hawk • Raphael Sabatini

... The wind has changed all of a sudden, or rather the breeze has ceased. The sails are flapping against the mast, and the pennons are not moving. Every man to his post," he shouted. "I fear the wind will veer suddenly before we have time to turn round, and blow harder than will be pleasant for us. Gray, go to the wheel. The rest of you mount the rigging, furl the sails, all, even the great topsail. Oh, here, you Chinamen, ...
— The Shipwreck - A Story for the Young • Joseph Spillman

... At pinch without laughing. At tilt at weeky. At prickle me tickle me. At ninepins. At the unshoeing of the ass. At the cock quintin. At the cocksess. At tip and hurl. At hari hohi. At the flat bowls. At I set me down. At the veer and turn. At earl beardy. At rogue and ruffian. At the old mode. At bumbatch touch. At draw the spit. At the mysterious trough. At put out. At the short bowls. At gossip lend me your sack. At the dapple-grey. At the ramcod ball. At cock and crank it. At thrust out the harlot. At break-pot. ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais

... that innumerable unseen eyes were malignantly rejoicing in her terror. At last, the climax to her suspense seemed at hand. The unknown thing, until now too busy with the clock to take heed of her, paused for a moment or so, as if undecided what to do next, and then slowly began to veer round. But the faint echo of a voice below, calling her by name, broke the hypnotic spell that bound Diana to the floor, and with a frantic spring she cleared the threshold of the room. She then tore madly downstairs, never halting till she ...
— Scottish Ghost Stories • Elliott O'Donnell

... he would have sunk through the floor rather than betray his sensations to the person causing them. Mr. Curtis, too, records the amusement with which he watched Hawthorne paddling on the Concord River with a friend whose want of skill caused the boat continually to veer the wrong way, and the silent generosity with which he put forth his whole strength to neutralize the error, rather than mortify his companion by an explanation. His considerateness was always delicate and alert, ...
— A Study Of Hawthorne • George Parsons Lathrop

... on his son's being made Advocate-general, began to think of a wife for him; and fixed upon Mary Reigersberg, of one of the first families in Zealand, whose father had been Burgomaster of Veer: the marriage was solemnised in July, 1608. The greatest encomium of the new-married lady is, that she was worthy such a husband as Grotius. The most perfect harmony subsisted between them, and Grotius held her ...
— The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius • Jean Levesque de Burigny

... not think you will meet with very many physicians who favor alcohol and its use. I believe the trend of the teaching in the Albany Medical College is that alcohol is not a food or stimulant."—DR. A. VANDER VEER, ...
— Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why - What Medical Writers Say • Martha M. Allen

... asked about the fare to some place, and, on replying L1, received the rejoinder, "I'll give you 15s?" He would think the man a joker of a very feeble description. Yet this may often be done in Western America. Even when there is no "war" the agents have a certain margin to veer and haul on in their commission, and will often knock off a little sooner than allow a rival line to get the passenger. Besides, it frequently happens that there may be a secret cutting of rates without an open war. My ...
— A Tramp's Notebook • Morley Roberts

... way home, lost in meditation. He was again giving way to indecision. Why should he veer round so quickly? Eugene was an intelligent fellow, but his mother had perhaps exaggerated the significance of some sentence in his letter. In any case, it would be better to ...
— The Fortune of the Rougons • Emile Zola

... to fathom or forecast the workings of the drink-maddened mentality masked by that rat-like face, Lanyard waited with a hand covertly grasping the automatic in his pocket. There was no telling; at any moment that murderous mania might veer his way. And he was not content to die, not yet, not in any event by the hand of a decadent ...
— The False Faces • Vance, Louis Joseph

... train of dogs went first. The sagacious leader never swerved from the tracks of the guide. No matter how winding or difficult the trail, he never wandered from it. Sometimes he could see the guide straight ahead, while the path seemed to veer at right angles. While the sight of the guide ahead might stimulate him to greater effort and speed, still he knew his duty was to keep in the well-defined track. A straight cut to the guide might run him into a dangerous gully or over a steep precipice. So, knowing his duty, perhaps taught it ...
— Winter Adventures of Three Boys • Egerton R. Young

... plane. She was also lifted by each wave and hammered over the sand into shallower water, so that the drenched and buffeted lifeboatmen had to lift anchor and follow the drifting vessel in the lifeboat, and again drop anchor and veer down as before. All this time three powerful steam-tugs were waiting in deep water to help the vessel, but they dared not come into the surf ...
— Heroes of the Goodwin Sands • Thomas Stanley Treanor

... what Van Galen's crabbed old Dutch seems to mean. 'Alsoo naer bij quam dat se couden toe schieter dragen, de elcken heer onder den windt, gaven so elck hare laghe dan vinjt d'eene sijde, dan veer van d'anden sijde, hielden alsdan met haer schepen voor den vindt tal dat se weer claer waren, dan wast alsvooren met cannoneren van de heele lagh en in sonderheijt op mijn onderhebbende schip vier gaven van meeninge masten aft stengen overboort to schieten.' A copy of Van Galen's ...
— Fighting Instructions, 1530-1816 - Publications Of The Navy Records Society Vol. XXIX. • Julian S. Corbett

... dogs floundered belly-deep, and the broad bottoms of the sleds alone saved the outfit from complete disaster. The increasing hardships left Steve without respite. It was only on the hill-tops, when the veer of the wind carried it to the northward, and, for a brief spell, Arctic conditions returned, that any measure of ease ...
— The Heart of Unaga • Ridgwell Cullum

... way or that? Evidently the miserable little half-ounce weight placed sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. In fine,'tisthe tiny squadron of free-lances that wins general elections, the voters who think or who don't think, or who veer to be with the majority. The Jacks-o'-both-sides rule England, even as the Parnell brigade ruled Parliament. To this floating population is it given to make or unmake Cabinets; theirs is the righteous indignation that sweeps the country like a new broom, and sweeps ...
— Without Prejudice • Israel Zangwill

... have been long at work within us, but the changes themselves are instantaneous, and apparently without sufficient cause. It was so with Flemming; and from that hour forth he resolved, that he would no longer veer with every shifting wind of circumstance; no longer be a child's plaything in the hands of Fate, which we ourselves do make or mar. He resolved henceforward not to lean on others; but to walk self-confident and self-possessed; no longer to waste his years in vain ...
— Hyperion • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... you think there's a pretty good possibility that the wind will veer around, sooner or later, and that the old tub won't be in sight when morning comes?" Allan remarked, as he pushed out alongside ...
— The, Boy Scouts on Sturgeon Island - or Marooned Among the Game-fish Poachers • Herbert Carter

... the extreme charm of her personality. We have all possibly gone through a similar psychic experience of meeting somebody against whom we had conceived a bitter prejudice, and finding our intended hatred suddenly veer round into love. The effect is like stepping out into what you imagine will be a blizzard, and finding warm sunshine. The little mistress of the Chase was very weary with her long journey, but, when at last she was sufficiently rested to be shown round her demesne, she made her royal ...
— The Princess of the School • Angela Brazil

... be most cautious not to let his satisfaction appear. So strangely contradictory was the marchesa that, although nothing could possibly be more advantageous to her own schemes than this marriage, she might, if indiscreetly pressed, veer round, and, in spite of her interest, refuse to listen to another ...
— The Italians • Frances Elliot

... lucky for us that we got to anchor at the time we did, for that same afternoon, one of the most tremendous gales of wind from the westward came on that I ever saw. Fortunately it was steady and did not veer about, and having good ground—tackle down, we rode it out well enough. The effect was very uncommon; the wind was howling over our mast—heads, and amongst the cedar bushes on the cliffs above, while on deck it was nearly calm, and there was ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott

... the truth, And I with grief can but admit Hot-blooded haste controls my youth, My idle fancies veer and flit From flower to flower, from tree to tree, And when the moment catches me Oh, love goes by, Away I fly, And leave ...
— Georgian Poetry 1918-19 • Various

... respecter of persons, and to suppose that any man is in any degree "the arbiter of his own destiny" is pure illusion. We are thrust forth into life, against our will. Against our will we are forced to leave it. We find ourselves, as has been said, "on a steep incline, where we can veer but little to the left or right"; whichever way we move we fall finally to the very bottom. The fires we kindle die away in coals; castles we build vanish before our eyes. The river sinks in the sands of the desert. ...
— The Philosophy of Despair • David Starr Jordan

... veer is not to veer: when votes are weighed, The numerous tongue approves him renegade Who cannot change his banner: he that can Sits crowned with wreaths of praise too pure to fade. Truth smiles applause on treason's poisonous plan: And Cleon is ...
— A Channel Passage and Other Poems - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne—Vol VI • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... the People in them seem'd desirous of Trafficking with us, but at this time a breeze of wind sprung up at South, they could not keep up with the Ship, and I would not wait for them. The wind did not continue long at South before it veer'd to South-West and West, a light breeze. Found the Variation in the Evening to be 12 degrees 42 minutes East, and in the Morning 13 degrees East. Keept standing to the West-North-West and North-West until 10 A.M., at which time we tacked and stood in for ...
— Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World • James Cook

... grievance so that it grew. For days he cherished his sense of injury and wrong, until it became large and took a good hold upon him. Then, all at once, for no reason that one can give, a change came, and his mind, as if smitten by a gust of wind, began to veer about, to stir and lighten. Why, he suddenly asked himself, was it that Julia would not sell the bulb? Because—the answer was so absurdly simple he wondered it had not occurred to him before—because it was the Van Heigens' present, and one cannot sell presents. He perfectly ...
— The Good Comrade • Una L. Silberrad

... summer, with the sea a sapphire blue, set with great purple patches, the scent of the gorse in the air, the sound of the clear stream in one's ears, what could be sweeter than to live? and even on dark days, when the wind volleys up from the sea, and the rain dashes on the windows, and the gulls veer and sail overhead, the great guest- room with its fire of wreckage, the women working, the children playing about, must have been a pleasant place enough. But even to the strongest and boldest of the old squires the end came, as the waggon ...
— Escape and Other Essays • Arthur Christopher Benson

... that because De Pretis suddenly changed his mind, and even proposed to Nino a plan for making the acquaintance of the young countess, he is a man to veer about like a weather-cock, nor yet a bad man, willing to help a boy to do mischief. That is not at all like Ercole de Pretis. He has since told me he was much astonished at the way Nino sang the love song at his lesson; and he was instantly convinced that ...
— A Roman Singer • F. Marion Crawford

... carry the tunnel forward in a straight line. As nearly everybody dug most of the time with the right hand, there was an almost irresistible tendency to make the course veer to the left. The first tunnel I was connected with was a ludicrous illustration of this. About twenty of us had devoted our nights for over a week to the prolongation of a burrow. We had not yet reached the Stockade, ...
— Andersonville, complete • John McElroy

... eine schoene Oration gethon, darinn er kurtz perstringiert alle strytigen Artikel, und als er letstlich kom uff den Artikel von der Gegenwirtikeit Christi im Sacrament, und under anderm gesagt das sige so veer von einander als der Himmel von der Erden, habend die Sorbonischen angfangen klopfen, ruetschen, brummlen, das nieman nuet mer moegen hoeren, dess die alte Koenigin uebel zufriden gsyn. Dessgleichen ...
— The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) • Henry Martyn Baird

... curves of the rounded bows beside me are pleasant to the eye, as any curve is that recalls those of woman. Mastheads stand up against the sky, and a loose rope swings as the breeze strikes it; a veer of the wind brings a puff of smoke from the funnel of a cabin, where some one is cooking, but it is not disagreeable, like smoke from a house chimney-pot; another veer carries it away again,—depend upon it the simplest ...
— The Open Air • Richard Jefferies

... rather the ship stood first upon one end and then upon the other. This continued for a while until the first burst of the cyclone had gone by. Then suddenly the engines stopped; I suppose that they had broken down, but I never learned, and we seemed to veer about, nearly sinking in the process, and to run before the hurricane at ...
— When the World Shook - Being an Account of the Great Adventure of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot • H. Rider Haggard

... good time," he said. "Never halloo for the prairie until you are clear of the forest. If the wind remains in its present quarter, we are fortunate. Should it happen to veer round to the eastward, and you see the rocks of Tierra del Fuego lashed by the choppy sea that can run even through a land-locked channel, you will be ready to open two bottles as a thanks-offering. Is this your first trip round by ...
— The Captain of the Kansas • Louis Tracy

... her the benefit of the doubt. I'll trust her, until I've seen something to warrant distrust—bearing in mind, however, what you have just told me, and the possibility of my being mistaken. I reckon I can veer quickly ...
— The Cab of the Sleeping Horse • John Reed Scott

... Erpingham.] Sir Thomas Erpingham knight exercised the office of lord great Chamberleine, and gaue water to the king when he washed, both before and after dinner, hauing for his fes, the bason, ewer, and towels, with other things whatsoeuer belonging to his office: notwithstanding Auberie de Veer earle of Orenford put in his petitions to haue that office as due vnto him from his ancestors. [Sidenote: The earle of Warwike.] Thomas Beauchampe earle of Warwike by right of inheritance, bare the third ...
— Chronicles (3 of 6): Historie of England (1 of 9) - Henrie IV • Raphael Holinshed

... He muttered as he passed, "The last Bathony, and his tusks are grown. A broken 'scutcheon is a 'scutcheon still, And Amine's token in my caftan lies,— Amine, who weeps and wails for his return." He caught my eye, and slipped inside the tent. "Haw, Zanthon, up from Poland, at your tricks! How veer the boars on old Bathony's towers? True to the winds that blow on Poland's plains?" "They bite the dust, my lord, as beast to beast. When Poles conspire, conspiracy alone Survives to hover in the murky air. My lord, Bathony's gates are left ajar For you to enter, or—remain ...
— Poems • Elizabeth Stoddard

... Saskatchewan every paddle-dip, every twist and turn of the supple canoes, revealed some new caprice of the river's moods. In places the current would be shallow and the canoes would lag. Then the paddlers must catch the veer of the flow or they would presently be out waist-deep shoving cargo and craft off sand bars. Again, as at Grand Rapids, where the banks were rock-faced and sheer, the canoes would run merrily in swift-flowing waters. No wonder the Indian voyageurs ...
— The "Adventurers of England" on Hudson Bay - A Chronicle of the Fur Trade in the North (Volume 18 of the Chronicles of Canada) • Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

... she smiled. If she had acted on a sudden impulse once, she felt that she could be deliberate now. Having been somewhat indiscreet in the rustic tea-house, with a woman's inconsistency she was determined to veer to a course of ...
— High Noon - A New Sequel to 'Three Weeks' by Elinor Glyn • Anonymous

... that followed broke the force of the storm that was brewing; and Annie, by saying, "See, children, Jeff is climbing the tree on top of the hill; I wonder who will get the first nuts," caused the wind to veer round from the threatening quarter, and away they scampered with grievances ...
— Opening a Chestnut Burr • Edward Payson Roe

... passed, in which he must buzz about the stock. It seemed vastly difficult to veer round to the Sabbath through the web of conversation the spider wove round him. Simeon Samuels' conception of a marine-dealer's stock startled him by its comprehensiveness, and when he was asked to admire ...
— Ghetto Comedies • Israel Zangwill

... place," said I, recollecting the scene near Charleston bar, "we will clinch the end of the cable around the mast, and then we can veer out as much as we like, without risk ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper

... the act of hurling it toward home, where Mullane had braced himself to receive the throw, and tag the oncoming runner out. Should Fred veer ever so little from a direct line throw he would pull the catcher aside, and thus give Clifford the opportunity ...
— Jack Winters' Baseball Team - Or, The Rivals of the Diamond • Mark Overton

... and so near the shore that I expected we should be obliged to anchor. A breeze of wind sprung up at E.S.E., and first took us on the wrong side; but, contrary to all our expectations, and when we had hardly room to veer, the ship came about, and having filled on the starboard tack, we stood off N.E. Thus we were relieved from the apprehensions of being forced to anchor in a great depth, on a lee shore, and in ...
— A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World Volume 2 • James Cook

... speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! And still it near'd and near'd; And, as if it dodg'd a water-sprite, It plung'd and tack'd and veer'd. ...
— Lyrical Ballads, With Other Poems, 1800, Vol. I. • William Wordsworth

... son was a year or more older than I, and was, of course, respected as the heir to the Pennington lands, for it is strange how people's sympathies veer around on the side of the people who are in power. My father has told me many times how, when he was thought to be the prospective heir of Pennington, people could not make enough of him, while Richard Tresidder had but scant courtesy paid him. When it became known that my father was disinherited, ...
— The Birthright • Joseph Hocking

... yesterday's schooners had this in common, that they could not, being human, resist a cross-cut; and thus, whether bark canoes of two centuries ago or the high, narrow propellers of to-day, one and all, coming and going, they veer to the southeast or west, and sail gayly out of sight, leaving this northern curve of ours unvisited and alone. A wilderness still, but not unexplored; for that railroad of the future which is to make of British America a garden of roses, ...
— Castle Nowhere • Constance Fenimore Woolson

... these Berlin news;'—and expresses, in the style of a whipt dog, his sorrows, uncertainties and terrors, on the occasion. "Struck with lightning. Feel myself quite ill, and not in a condition to write much today. It requires another head than mine to veer round so often ( changer si souvent de systame ). In fine, Nosti est au bout de son latin [is at his wit's end, poor devil)! Both Majesties have spoken openly of the favorable news from Berlin; funds rose in consequence. New Minister [Walpole come to the top of the Firm, Townshend ...
— History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7 • Thomas Carlyle

... it foreboded my coming misfortune; but, in a moment, my half extinguished courage blazed again. I fixed a rope around my body, stood on the edge of the cave, and commended my soul to God. Ordering the men to veer the rope steadily, and to hold when I cried out, I took a boat-hook in my right hand, and glided into the abyss. Aided by the pole, I was enabled to keep clear of the jutting points of rock that would have impeded my progress, as well as have wounded ...
— Niels Klim's journey under the ground • Baron Ludvig Holberg

... muttered, though at that instant he heard the triumphant whoops that told him a scalp was taken on the trail behind him, though at that very instant he saw that warriors, dashing from that teeming ridge, had headed him; that he must veer from the trail as he neared the ranch, and trust to Farron and his men to drive ...
— Starlight Ranch - and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier • Charles King

... and began to stretch their necks and gabble their amazement at the strange thing, which they had never seen before. Shy and wild as he naturally is, a duck, like a caribou or a turkey, must take a peek at every new thing. Now silent, now gabbling all together, the flock would veer and scatter and draw together again, and finally swing in toward the shore, every neck drawn straight as a string the better to see what was going on. Nearer and nearer they would come, till a swift rush out of the grass sent ...
— Northern Trails, Book I. • William J. Long

... to-night mature a plan for a systematic search for him. It is probable that we will make this camp the base of operations, and remain here several days. Everts has with him a supply of matches, ammunition and fishing tackle, and if he will but travel in a direct line and not veer around to the right or left in a circle, he ...
— The Discovery of Yellowstone Park • Nathaniel Pitt Langford

... turn, to strike off on the side, strike a stone in an oblique direction, a term in curling, to hit the corner (Wagner). O.N. vikja, to turn, to veer, Sw. dial. vik, Sw. wika, Norse vikja, vika, to turn (causative). Dan. vige not quite ...
— Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch • George Tobias Flom

... task, for there was no judging distances by any object, and hence Oliver had to walk straight away into the darkness, till he guessed that he was far enough distant. Then he began to veer round to his right, and he had hardly done this, when from somewhere behind came a sharp sound, best expressed by the word Thung! ...
— Fire Island - Being the Adventures of Uncertain Naturalists in an Unknown Track • G. Manville Fenn

... received with much applause. The "Wansbeck" had sailed on the 8th of the month, and until the 11th the pumps were kept constantly going. The morning of the 12th broke with a wan glare in the sky, and a tremendous sea came away. The captain was obliged to veer the ship with her head to the north, and she went away fast before the gale under two close-reefed topsails. The men's hands were beginning to get badly damaged by the constant labour, but no rest ...
— The Romance of the Coast • James Runciman

... natives call Maaraee; and it sometimes blows with considerable force. When this is the case, the weather is often cloudy, with showers of rain; but, when the wind is more moderate, it is clear, settled, and serene. If the wind should veer farther to the southward, and become S.E., or S.S.E., it then blows more gently, with a smooth sea, and is called Maooui. In those months, when the sun is nearly vertical, that is, in December and January, ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr

... helmsman, these are my commands for you; lay them to heart, for you control the rudders of our hollow ship: keep the ship off that smoke and surf and hug the crags, or else, before you know it, she may veer off that way, and you will bring us ...
— The Children's Hour, Volume 3 (of 10) • Various

... day, immediately after this favourable report from a physician whose experience in this particular branch of practice gave great weight to his opinions, Thurlow began to veer round again to the Ministry. "Whatever object he might at one time have had in view," says Mr. Grenville, "he has now taken his determination of abiding by the present Government." Thurlow, in short, was exactly the man the King believed ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham

... cried; "wouldn't harm a fly!" and I could veer him to no other point of view. Barry agreed to everything, very solemn ...
— Gold • Stewart White

... by fellow team-mates ... and that Frank, directly ahead, was doing herculean work at clearing the way for him. On the thirty yard stripe, Frank suddenly went down, blocking off another tackler as he fell ... and Mack was forced to veer toward the sidelines as he was left upon his own. He saw now that Dizzy Fox, Pomeroy's star backfield man, was bearing rapidly down on him. There was no escape ... he must try to straight-arm ... or else ...
— Interference and Other Football Stories • Harold M. Sherman

... gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea. "And is it not pretty sport," wrote Captain John Smith, who was on this coast as early as 1614, "to pull up twopence, sixpence, and twelvepence, as fast as you can haul and veer a line?"—"And what sport doth yield a more pleasing content, and less hurt or charge, than angling with a hook, and crossing the sweet air from isle to isle, over the silent streams of ...
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers • Henry David Thoreau

... of will-power could he hold the biplane to her course. His every instinct was to veer, to retreat back to solid earth, and land somewhere, and once more, at all hazards, get the contact ...
— Darkness and Dawn • George Allan England

... invitation. So they drew up alongside and clambered in through the gunroom ports. As they rushed up on deck they were joined by the sailors with handspikes, and together they soon forced the soldiers to surrender. In the meanwhile Carver too was approaching, and hearing the shouts, tried to veer away. But Larrimore trained his guns on him and captured him and all his men. Coming on board he "stormed, tore his hair off and cursed," as well he might for he knew that he would soon be on the way to the gallows. This was a major victory, for it gave ...
— Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 • Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker

... true, John Lowe, we have to make allowances for it, don't we? And after we've made the allowances, it's as though it never pointed anywhere but true north, isn't it? There's only one circle on the ocean, John Lowe, where a compass don't veer, but every ship can't be always on that line. And even when you're sailin' that one circle, John Lowe, there's sometimes deviations. And me—no doubt I have my ...
— Sonnie-Boy's People • James B. Connolly

... the old gentleman by sight but not by name, and she was therefore considerably astonished to see him suddenly veer from his ordinary course, and come slowly up ...
— The Law-Breakers and Other Stories • Robert Grant

... who had no notion of leaving the comfortable Homestead, and who thought this as good a time to veer round as any she would have, also joined in the laugh, saying, "What a child ...
— Homestead on the Hillside • Mary Jane Holmes

... next morning to breakfast; to meet the usual homely events, was bewildering after such a night. Which was dream: this or that? So solid and convincing seemed, at times, the interests and objects of every day, that Hadria would veer round to a sudden conviction that these things, or what they symbolized, were indeed the solid facts of human life, and that all other impressions arose from the disorderly working of overcharged brain-cells. It was a little ailment ...
— The Daughters of Danaus • Mona Caird

... was an inveteracy in the gale which had driven us down to this part that bore heavily upon our spirits. It was impossible to trim the ballast. We dared not veer so as to bring the ship on the other tack. And the slope of the decks, added to the fierce wild motions of the fabric, made our situation as unendurable as that of one who should be confined in a cask and sent rolling downhill. It was impossible ...
— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell

... cried Ramiro, "there's my weather-cock son again, fighting against us this time. Well, Weather-cock, this is your last veer," then he began to wade towards the promontory. "Charge," he cried, but not a man would advance within reach of that axe. They stood here and there in the water looking at it doubtfully, for although they were brave ...
— Lysbeth - A Tale Of The Dutch • H. Rider Haggard

... they accept the invitation) generally form part of the procession to church, and are preceded by a harper or fiddler. After the nuptial knot is tied, they veer their course to the public-house mentioned in the bills, where they partake, not of a sumptuous banquet, but of the simple, though not the worst, fare of bread and cheese and kisses, at the expense of the new married folks. After this, a large plate is placed on ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12, - Issue 345, December 6, 1828 • Various

... S.E. the less he will experience the violence of the hurricane: should he heave his ship to, upon moving the hurricane circle from the ship's place on the chart towards the N.E., he will be able to judge of the changes of the wind he is likely to experience: thus it will first veer to S.S.W., the barometer still falling; then to S.W., the barometer at a minimum—this marks the position of the most violent portion of the storm he may be in, and by keeping the barometer as high as he can by bearing towards the S.E., the farther he will be from ...
— The Hurricane Guide - Being An Attempt To Connect The Rotary Gale Or Revolving - Storm With Atmospheric Waves. • William Radcliff Birt

... sitting in our "parlour," which is bespattered with whitewash and its furniture covered with sheets and paper, and must resign ourselves to a day or two of this mode of living, as parts of the room will most likely have to be whitewashed again. We hope the wind will veer round to the west, so that the room may dry. At present a north wind is blowing, which makes the walls oozy with damp and the atmosphere very steamy. We get a good deal of this unpleasant wind at this time of the year, together with heavy ...
— Three Years in Tristan da Cunha • K. M. Barrow

... in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks which they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. When compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over the pond at a considerable height, ...
— Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience • Henry David Thoreau

... of Washington has recently begun to veer away from the vision of an eighteenth century demigod in a wig,—an old-fashioned statue in dusky bronze, stern and forbidding. We are swinging around toward the idea of a loveable, fallible, very human personality with humor, ...
— Washington's Birthday • Various

... many islands which appeared in sight, and had the good fortune to bring the ship to anchor to the eastward of the island of Inchin[1]. But, as they did not run sufficiently near the east shore of that island, and had not hands enough to veer away the cable briskly, they were soon driven to the eastwards, deepening their water from twenty-five to thirty-five fathoms. Still continuing to drive, they next day, being the 17th May, let go their sheet anchor, which brought them up for a short time: but on the 18th they ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 • Robert Kerr

... In this yere the kyng at parlement be assent of the comounes made S^{r}. Edmond Langeley, thanne erle of Caumbregge, duke of Yorke; Sire Thomas Wodestoke, thanne erle of Notyngham, duke of Gloucestre; S^{r}. Robert le Veer, thanne erle of Oxenford, duke of Irlond; and sitthe he made hym marqwys of Develyn, and yaf hym alle the comodites of Irlond, terme of hys lyf, to mayntene the werres of Irlond: also S^{r}. Mighell of Pole was mad erle of Suffolke, and S^{r}. John Urmonde was mad ...
— A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483 • Anonymous

... To veer, how vain! On, onward strain, Brave barks! In light, in darkness too, Through winds and tides one compass guides— To that, and your ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... object still, still would she veer, Though nothing, alas, could she find; Like the moon, without atmosphere, brilliant and clear, Yet doom'd, like the moon, with no being to cheer The bright barren ...
— The Sylphs of the Season with Other Poems • Washington Allston

... may veer and veer, A great enchantress you may be, But there'll be that across your throat, Which you would ...
— Punchinello, Vol.1, No. 12 , June 18,1870 • Various

... old squire, mindful of his former friendship for Clifford, and not apt to veer, was about to begin a speech on the occasion, when Lucy, touching his arm, implored him to be silent; and so ghastly was the paleness of her cheek while she spoke, that the squire's eyes, obtuse as he generally was, ...
— Paul Clifford, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... the tempest, when the slivered pine-trees fall, When the blinding, blaring rain-squalls lash and veer, Through the war-gongs of the thunder rings a voice more loud than all— It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear! Now the spates are banked and deep; now the footless boulders leap— Now the lightning shows ...
— Songs from Books • Rudyard Kipling

... fallen so low that they could scarcely get alongside. Three times they struck on the shoal; on the third occasion the mizzen-mast and sail were blown out of the boat. They managed to drop anchor, however, and to veer down under the port bow of the Wellington, whence the anxious survivors threw ropes to them, and, one after another, leaped or swung themselves into the boat. But they were so long about it that before all had been got out the coxswain was obliged to drop to leeward ...
— The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands • R.M. Ballantyne

... about 80 Tun, 25 Head of Oxen, &c., I sail'd the 13th of October, with several of my Men not recover'd; some I buried at Johanna, and some after, to the Number of Ten, or thereabouts. Having a fine Gale, I made all the Sail I could, except Studding-sails, which I thought needless. The Wind veer'd to the Northward, and I was resolved to make the Mallabar Course as soon as possible, for the Advantage of the Land and Sea Winds. I had one Passenger aboard, a sad troublesome wicked Fellow, whose Behaviour was so ...
— Great Pirate Stories • Various

... of a wound he had received from a lance in one of his military expeditions. Stephen, the son of Earthbald, had a similar mark, the accident being in a manner converted into nature. A like miracle of nature occurred in earl Alberic, son of Alberic earl of Veer, {168} whose father, during the pregnancy of his mother, the daughter of Henry of Essex, having laboured to procure a divorce, on account of the ignominy of her father, the child, when born, had ...
— The Itinerary of Archibishop Baldwin through Wales • Giraldus Cambrensis

... mist, a shape, I wist! And still it near'd and near'd: As if it dodged a water-sprite, It plunged, and tack'd, and veer'd. ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy

... a night of anxiety in the kraal of the field-cornet. Should the wind veer round to the west, to a certainty the locusts would cover his land in the morning, and the result would be the total destruction of his crops. Perhaps worse than that. Perhaps the whole vegetation around—for fifty miles or more—might be ...
— The Bush Boys - History and Adventures of a Cape Farmer and his Family • Captain Mayne Reid

... again, Strap and I, to our mutual satisfaction, happened to be partners. My good fortune attended me still, and in less than an hour we had got thirty shillings of their money, for as they lost they grew the keener, and doubled stakes every time. At last the inconstant goddess began to veer about, and we were very soon stripped of all our gains, and about forty shillings of our own money. This loss mortified me extremely, and had a visible effect on the muscles of Strap's face, which lengthened ...
— The Adventures of Roderick Random • Tobias Smollett

... there is pleasure to be found in them, without doubt, I would that the wind had veer'd a point or two! I like not that sky, nor yonder misty horizon, nor this breeze hanging so dead ...
— The Red Rover • James Fenimore Cooper

... Northern scholars, like Rudolf Agricola, hurried south to find congenial air at the centre of intellectual life. That professional humanists could not do without the stamp of true culture which an Italian degree gave to them, Erasmus, observer of all things, notes in the year 1500 to the Lady of Veer: ...
— English Travellers of the Renaissance • Clare Howard

... anybody seated behind it, which reinforced his belief. The desk had eaten its master. Now it was out of control and they would have to have it shot. Malone took a deep breath and tried not to veer. ...
— Supermind • Gordon Randall Garrett

... rotatory gale, one of which I have described in an early part of the work. The gales that chiefly prevail in this Strait begin at North-North-West, and gradually draw round by West to South-West, at which point they subside; but if the wind, before it has so much southing, veer again to the northward of west—or backs, as it is expressed—the gale will continue; but its duration may be told by the barometer, as it is seldom fine when it registers less than 29.95, and bad weather is certain if it ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 • John Lort Stokes

... began to menstruate at two years of age and continued regularly thereafter. At the age of six years she was still menstruating, and exhibited beginning signs of puberty. She was 118 cm. tall, her breasts were developed, and she had hair on the mons veneris. Van der Veer mentions an infant who began menstruating at the early age of four months and had continued regularly for over two years. She had the features and development of a child ten or twelve years old. The external labia and the vulva in all its parts were well formed, and the mons veneris ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... hasten, for he well knew his cousin's unscrupulous ways. He was aware that Gian Maria had been forced by weight of argument to let him go, and he shrewdly feared that did he linger, his cousin might veer round again, and without pausing to seek advice a second time, have him disposed of out of hand and reckless ...
— Love-at-Arms • Raphael Sabatini

... that in this famous passage "Veer" is a clerical error or a misprint for "Ware"? This would at once make sense and a ...
— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott

... probability of the landing party being attacked on a re-embarkation, the boats should be hauled off to their anchors, with a long scope of cable, having a stern-line to the beach, and a man in the boat to veer in, that the troops may be readily embarked. The officer left in charge of the boats should be careful to avoid being surprised; and, if circumstances admit, strengthen his position by cutting down trees and throwing up small breastworks a short ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN

... very general misgivings; and, now that the people had been led to think, there were some uncomfortable aspects to the question. Even that august dignitary the sexton was in a painful dilemma as to whether it would be best to assume an air of offended dignity, or veer with these eddying and varying currents until sure from what quarter the wind would finally blow. He had learned that it was Mrs. Arnot whom he had twice carelessly motioned with his thumb into a back seat, and he could not help remarking to several of the more ...
— A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century • E. P. Roe

... went! It rocked from one side of the road to the other. It bounded over great stones and tried to veer into ditches, with the express purpose of ...
— Mr. Hawkins' Humorous Adventures • Edgar Franklin

... thick and thin, o'er stock and stone, Or else, bye, bye, the post is gone. Since plagues like these as storms may lower, And favourites fall as falls the flower, Good principles should not be steady,— That is, at court, but ever ready To veer—as veers the vane—each hour Around the ministry in power: For they, you know, they must have tools; And if they can't get knaves, get fools. Ah! let me shun the public hate, And flee the guilt of guilty state. Give me, kind Heaven, a private station, A mind serene for contemplation; ...
— Fables of John Gay - (Somewhat Altered) • John Gay

... know, my lord. I was unaware she was a witness until this moment," returned Mr. Walters, with a discreet glance in the direction of Detective Rolfe, as an indication to His Honour that the judicial storm might safely veer in that direction. Sir Henry took the hint and administered such a stinging rebuke to Detective Rolfe that that officer's face took on a much redder tint before it was concluded. Then the judge motioned to Mr. ...
— The Hampstead Mystery • John R. Watson

... new-springing day Attemper'd, eager now to roam, and search Its limits round, forthwith I left the bank; Along the champain leisurely my way Pursuing, o'er the ground, that on all sides Delicious odour breathed. A pleasant air That intermitted never, never veer'd, Smote on my temples, gently as a wind Of softest influence, at which the sprays, Obedient all, lean'd trembling to that part Where first the holy mountain casts his shade, Yet were not so disordered, but that still Upon their top the feathered ...
— Ravenna, A Study • Edward Hutton

... love when you are gone, my liege, Witness these papers, there will not be wanting Those that will urge her injury—should her love— And I have known such women more than one— Veer to the counterpoint, and jealousy Hath in it an alchemic force to fuse Almost into one metal love and hate,— And she impress her wrongs upon her Council, And these again upon her Parliament— We are not loved ...
— Queen Mary and Harold • Alfred Lord Tennyson

... the mainmast, there was a sudden veer to the craft, a snapping, splintering sound, and the mast, with its gear of sail, boom and gaff crashed over the side, smashing the ...
— The Moving Picture Girls at Sea - or, A Pictured Shipwreck That Became Real • Laura Lee Hope

... book had gone through ten editions, and the demand for it had become so great as "to call forth twenty thousand copies during the year," the prudent author, intending to veer his course according to the trade-wind, thought it expedient to retract his former acknowledgement to "our best modern philologists," and to profess himself a modifier of the Great Compiler's code. Where then holds the anchor ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown

... mutineer Stands, and proclaims the reign of rage and fear. Thy limbs are bound, the bayonet at thy breast; The hands, which trembled at thy voice, arrest; Dragged o'er the deck, no more at thy command The obedient helm shall veer, the sail expand; That savage Spirit, which would lull by wrath Its desperate escape from Duty's path, 60 Glares round thee, in the scarce believing eyes Of those who fear the Chief they sacrifice: For ne'er can Man his conscience all assuage, Unless he drain ...
— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron

... to veer: when votes are weighed, The numerous tongue approves him renegade Who cannot change his banner: he that can Sits crowned with wreaths of praise too pure to fade. Truth smiles applause on treason's poisonous plan: And Cleon ...
— A Channel Passage and Other Poems - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne—Vol VI • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... of battle it is as if they do not exist. What counts, what decides, what triumphs, is another body of electors altogether—a floating body too often swayed by their passions, by their prejudices; or, worse still, by their interests. These are our masters, and according as they veer from right to left, or from left to right, the Government of the country changes, and its history takes a new direction. Gentlemen, is it well that it should be so? Is it well that this country should be at the mercy of ...
— An Autobiography • Catherine Helen Spence

... small, many of them strongly manned, and armed with cannon, to guard against the countless pirates of the "China seas." At every moment it seemed as if the Arizona must run some of them down; but just as the crash was about to come, the junk would veer, and slide nimbly away. When several of them came by together, the barking of dogs, crowing of roosters, and shouts of children made Frank feel quite as if he were in a town instead of on the open sea. So steadily ...
— Harper's Young People, May 25, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various

... he exulted. "A little air let out to slow down ... or even just to veer close enough to lay hands on something! You launched me, Peters, ...
— Satellite System • Horace Brown Fyfe

... had above 800 ships from 200 to 700 tons burden: fleets of 300 ships arrived twice a year from Dantzic and Livonia at Amsterdam, where there were often seeing lying at the same time 500 vessels, most of them belonging to it. He mentions Veer in Zealand (Campveer) as at that time being the staple port for all the Scotch shipping, and owing its ...
— Robert Kerr's General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 18 • William Stevenson

... three years he do not veer from the principles of his father, he may be called a ...
— Chinese Literature • Anonymous

... the pied golden-eye pre-eminent among the advancing party; now the pochard, with his copper-coloured head and neck, may be distinguished from the darker scaup-duck; already the finger is on the trigger, when, perhaps, they suddenly veer to the right and left, far beyond the reach of my longest barrel or, it may be, come swishing overhead, and leave a companion or two struggling on the shingle or floating on the shallow waters of ...
— Highways & Byways in Sussex • E.V. Lucas

... canoe grew and grew, and they saw, as Willet had surmised, that it contained four paddles. It was evident too that they were on a quest, as the boat began to veer about, and the four Indians swept ...
— The Lords of the Wild - A Story of the Old New York Border • Joseph A. Altsheler

... of advice, Neb, to take leave of my friends, and then to be struck off the shipping articles of life. Old age and hard sarvice, Neb, has made me veer cable to the better end. The stopper is working loose, and a few more surges will leave the hulk adrift. The case is different with you, who are in your prime,—and a prime chap be you, on a yard or at the wheel. My parting advice to you, Neb, is, to hold out as you've begun. I don't say ...
— Miles Wallingford - Sequel to "Afloat and Ashore" • James Fenimore Cooper

... out from the very crest of the bluff there leaped half a dozen quick puffs of smoke; half a dozen little spirts of dust and sand flew up from the prairie near the three horsemen farthest to the front, two of whose steeds were seen to veer and shy violently, and then six sharp, spiteful, half-muffled reports were borne on ...
— Marion's Faith. • Charles King

... the chorussed cry of the crew pulling together at the braces, until the topsails lay like boards almost fore and aft the ship. And yet her head could not be induced to veer a fraction towards the desired point, but rather fell ...
— Picked up at Sea - The Gold Miners of Minturne Creek • J.C. Hutcheson

... val, whose ravages are so terrible. Two centuries ago this great bay was so filled up with sand that it was expected the two islands would in a short time be reunited and thenceforth form but one. Then, on a sudden, the gulf yawned anew. That huge rent, the Veer Gat, opened once again, more deeply than before; whole towns were buried, and their inhabitants drowned. Then the water retired, the earth rose, shaking off its humid winding sheet, and the old task was resumed; man began ...
— Holland - The History of the Netherlands • Thomas Colley Grattan

... had just sighted must have wirelessed a warning, for it wasn't half an hour before we saw more smoke on the horizon, and this time the vessel flew the white ensign of the Royal Navy and carried guns. She didn't veer to the north or anywhere else, but bore down on us rapidly. I was just preparing to signal her, when a flame flashed from her bows, and an instant later the water in front of us was thrown high by ...
— The Land That Time Forgot • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... Lieut. Wainwright to hail the steamer next him," writes Capt. Porter, "and tell her captain to pass the word for the others to veer out all their riding-chains to the bitter end, and stand by to sheer clear of the burning iron-clad as she drifted down. I then sat down to the table, and said, 'Gentlemen, we will proceed to sign the capitulation.' I handed the paper to Gen. Duncan, and looked at the Confederate ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 2 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot

... the bight," as the expression was; that is, to the cable, curved by its own weight and length, lying even in part on the bottom, which prevented its tightening and pulling at the anchor. What was true of hemp was yet more true of iron chains. The Pocahontas used to veer to a hundred fathoms, and there lie like a duck in fifty or sixty feet of water. I remember on one occasion, however, that when we next weighed the anchor, it came up with parts polished bright, as in my childhood we used sometimes to burnish a copper ...
— From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life • Captain A. T. Mahan

... to regard her honour with dismay. The easy confidence which she had brought from New Zealand had quite disappeared, thanks to incessant snubbing; she was apt now to veer to ...
— For the Sake of the School • Angela Brazil

... charge of the 8th Lancers—see the horsemen wheel and veer wildly as they received the fire of the Confederate troops from the woods across the stream, squadron after squadron sheering off at a gallop and driving past the infantry, pell-mell, a wild riot of maddened horses, yelling riders, and streaming scarlet pennons descending in one vivid, ...
— Ailsa Paige • Robert W. Chambers

... the burning island I shaped my course for two islands called Turtle Isles which lie north-east by east a little easterly, and distant about fifty leagues from the burning isle. I, fearing the wind might veer to the eastward of the north, steered 20 leagues north-east, then north-east by east. On the 28th we saw two small low islands called Luca Paros, to the north of us. At noon I accounted myself 20 leagues ...
— A Continuation of a Voyage to New Holland • William Dampier

... felt my own heart veer toward this—Thing; bowing before its beauty and its strength; ...
— The Metal Monster • A. Merritt

... papers; vows he will never peach; reconciles himself with his mother; says he will go loser; but, having ordered his ship to "veer" round to the chapel, orders it to veer back again, for he will pass the honeymoon ...
— Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush - The Yellowplush Papers • William Makepeace Thackeray

... into which from time to time the angel of tenderness descends to trouble the waters for the healing of the beloved. Such a love Shelley's second wife appears unquestionably to have given him. Nay, she was content that he should veer while she remained true; she companioned him intellectually, shared his views, entered into his aspirations, and yet—yet, even at the date of Epipsychidion the foolish child, her husband, assigned her the part of moon to Emilia Viviani's sun, and lamented that he was barred from final, certain, ...
— Shelley - An Essay • Francis Thompson

... one Fear awaits And chills his marrow like the dead.— He cannot worship what he hates Or make a god of naked Dread. The homeless winds that twist and race, The heights of cloud that veer and roll, The unplumb'd Abyss, the drift of Space— These are the fears that ...
— The Moon Endureth—Tales and Fancies • John Buchan

... and 'marmalade' are our only Portuguese words I can call to mind. A good many of our sea-terms are Dutch, as 'sloop', 'schooner', 'yacht', 'boom', 'skipper', 'tafferel', 'to smuggle'; 'to wear', in the sense of veer, as when we say 'to wear a ship'; 'skates', too, and 'stiver', are Dutch. Celtic things are for the most part designated among us by Celtic words; such as 'bard', 'kilt', 'clan', 'pibroch', 'plaid', 'reel'. Nor only such as these, which are all of them comparatively ...
— English Past and Present • Richard Chenevix Trench

... imponderable, and to the untutored mind mysterious, means of directing her torpedoes, exploding magazines, mines, shells from distant bases? Undoubtedly we are close upon the employment of certain vibrations for this deadly purpose. Shall we veer in time and take a safer course, or are we doomed ...
— Popular Science Monthly Volume 86

... the evening the wind shifted to east-south-east; and at ten it became what seamen term a hard gale, rendering it necessary to veer out about fifty additional fathoms of the hempen cable. The gale still increasing, the ship rolled and laboured excessively, and at midnight eighty fathoms more were veered out, while the sea continued to strike the vessel ...
— The Lighthouse • Robert Ballantyne

... exposure, the engineer was compelled to veer off to the right in his ascent. He reached the ridge crest without a shot having been fired at him. Leaping suddenly to his feet, he scrambled up to the flat top of a high crag, from which he could peer down upon the others. The natural embrazure from which the assassin had fired was ...
— Out of the Depths - A Romance of Reclamation • Robert Ames Bennet



Words linked to "Veer" :   switch, peel off, cut, change over, turn, shift, back, yaw



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