Swerve
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
swerve
n 1: the act of turning aside suddenly [syn: {swerve},
{swerving}, {veering}]
2: an erratic deflection from an intended course [syn: {yaw},
{swerve}]
v 1: turn sharply; change direction abruptly; "The car cut to
the left at the intersection"; "The motorbike veered to the
right" [syn: {swerve}, {sheer}, {curve}, {trend}, {veer},
{slue}, {slew}, {cut}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Swerve \Swerve\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Swerved}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Swerving}.] [OE. swerven, AS. sweorfan to wipe off, to file,
to polish; akin to OFries. swerva to creep, D. zwerven to
swerve, to rope, OS. swerban to wipe off, MHG. swerben to be
whirled, OHG. swerban to wipe off, Icel. sverfa to file,
Goth. swa['i]rban (in comp.) to wipe, and perhaps to E.
swarm. Cf. {Swarm}.]
1. To stray; to wander; to rope. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
A maid thitherward did run,
To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.
--Sir P.
Sidney.
[1913 Webster]
2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point [of
the sword] swerved." --Sir P. Sidney.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
I swerve not from thy commandments. --Bk. of Com.
Prayer.
[1913 Webster]
They swerve from the strict letter of the law.
--Clarendon.
[1913 Webster]
Many who, through the contagion of evil example,
swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy
religion. --Atterbury.
[1913 Webster]
4. To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
[1913 Webster]
The tree was high;
Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
219 Moby Thesaurus words for "swerve":
L, aberrancy, aberration, about ship, about the bush, alter,
ameliorate, angle, angle off, apex, avoid, back and fill,
be changed, be converted into, be renewed, bear away, bear off,
bear to starboard, beat, beat about, beat around, beg the question,
bend, bent, bias, bifurcate, bifurcation, bight, blench, blink,
bottom out, box off, branch, branch off, branching off, break,
bring about, bring round, cant, cant round, career, cast,
cast about, change, change course, change the bearing,
change the heading, checker, chevron, chop, chop and change,
circuitousness, coin, come about, come around, come round, corner,
crank, cringe, crook, crotchet, curve, declination, deflect,
deflection, degenerate, depart, depart from, departure,
deteriorate, detour, deviance, deviancy, deviate, deviation,
deviousness, digress, digression, dip, discursion, divagate,
divagation, divaricate, divarication, diverge, divergence,
diversify, diversion, dodge, dogleg, double, double a point,
draw back, drift, drifting, duck, elbow, ell, equivocate, err,
errantry, evade, excursion, excursus, exorbitation, fade,
fall back, fence, fetch about, flinch, flop, fork, furcate,
furcation, go about, gybe, hairpin, hang back, haul around,
heave round, hedge, heel, hem and haw, hook, improve, indirection,
inflection, jib, jibe, jibe all standing, knee, lurch, meliorate,
miss stays, mitigate, modulate, mutate, nook, oblique, obliquity,
parry, pererration, ply, point, pull away, pull back, pussyfoot,
put about, put back, put off, quail, quoin, rambling, recoil,
reel back, retreat, revive, round a point, sheer, sheer off, shift,
shift off, shifting, shifting course, shifting path, shrink,
shrink back, shy, shy away, shy off, sidestep, skew, slant, slew,
slue, start aside, start back, step aside, stray, straying, sway,
sweep, swerving, swing, swing round, swing the stern, swinging,
tack, take a turn, throw about, trend, turn, turn aside, turn back,
turn into, turn the corner, turning, twist, undergo a change,
variation, vary, veer, vertex, wander, wandering, ward off, warp,
waver, wear, wear ship, weasel, weasel out, wince, wind, worsen,
yaw, zag, zig, zigzag
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