Word Direct Answers

What does "swerve" mean?

Swerve: To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point [of the sword] swerved." Sir P. Sidney.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved." Milton.
  3. 4.To climb or move upward by winding or turning. The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. Dryden.
  4. 5.To turn aside. Gauden.

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