Sekirov Dictionary

swerve

UK /swɜːv/US /swɝv/

verb 9
noun 3
forms 5

verb9

•
To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
- with the slipping of the pommel , the point swerved — 1580
•
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. — 1785
To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
•
Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
- Snodgrass also saw a free-kick swerve just wide before Arsenal, with Walcott and Fabregas by now off the bench, turned their vastly superior possession into chances in the closing moments — 2011
•
(slang) To go out of one's way to avoid; to snub.
- If I see that type o' muthafucka in the club I just swerve him.
To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off.
•
To bend; to incline; to give way.
- The battle swerved. — 1667
•
To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
- The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. — 1692
•
(no longer used) To stray; to wander; to rove.
- A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve. — 1580

noun3

A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.
Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”).
•
A deviation from duty or custom.
- […] indubitable evidence of a swerve from the principle of the work. — 1874

forms

swerved · swerving · swerves · swerveth · swervest

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