Swerve v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swerved p. pr. & vb. n. Swerving.]
1. To stray; to wander; to rope. [Obs.]
A maid thitherward did run,
To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve. --Sir P. Sidney.
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. --Bk. of Com. Prayer.
They swerve from the strict letter of the law. --Clarendon.
Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion. --Atterbury.
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. --Dryden.
swerving
n : the act of turning aside suddenly [syn: swerve, veering]