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]