swerve
- to turn aside abruptly in movement or direction; deviate suddenly from the straight or direct course.
- to cause to turn aside: Nothing could swerve him.
- an act of swerving; turning aside.
Origin of swerve
Synonym study
Related Words for swerve
deflect, stray, skid, veer, lurch, wander, sheer, sidestep, depart, incline, err, shift, skew, move, diverge, turn, tack, bend, waver, swingExamples from the Web for swerve
Contemporary Examples of swerve
Motorcycles roar and swerve around women who balance soaring bundles confidently on their heads.
They kept the Portuguese in check, matching them tackle for tackle, swerve for swerve.
This kind of swerve has been ventured before and it led to an electoral dead end.
The Swerve won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
It moved past them at a walking pace, with an odd, irregular bob and swerve like a spinning top.
Historical Examples of swerve
In a swerve he almost stopped, every muscle of his big body trembling in affright.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
It has fixed rules which are the props of order, and will not swerve or bend in extreme cases.
StatesmanPlato
The Arcadians did not swerve: in compact order they waited impassively.
HellenicaXenophon
And even now it was held to be undignified to swerve from that doctrine.
England and GermanyEmile Joseph Dillon
He would not swerve from the line of duty which he had marked out.
Paul Prescott's ChargeHoratio Alger
swerve
- to turn or cause to turn aside, usually sharply or suddenly, from a course
- (tr) to avoid (a person or event)
- the act, instance, or degree of swerving
Word Origin for swerve
Word Origin and History for swerve
early 13c., "to depart, make off;" early 14c., "to turn aside, deviate from a straight course," probably from Old English sweorfan "to rub, scour, file" (but sense development is difficult to trace), from Proto-Germanic *swerbanan (cf Old Norse sverfa "to scour, file," Old Saxon swebran "to wipe off"), from PIE root *swerbh-. Cognate words in other Germanic languages (cf. Old Frisian swerva "to creep," Middle Dutch swerven "to rove, stray") suggests the sense of "go off, turn aside" may have existed in Old English, though unrecorded. Related: Swerved; swerving.
1741, from swerve (v.).