swerve

[swurv]

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verb (used without object), swerved, swerv·ing.

to turn aside abruptly in movement or direction; deviate suddenly from the straight or direct course.

verb (used with object), swerved, swerv·ing.

to cause to turn aside: Nothing could swerve him.

noun

an act of swerving; turning aside.

Origin of swerve

1175–1225; Middle English swerven (v.); Old English sweorfan to rub, file; cognate with Dutch zwerven to rove, Old High German swerban, Old Norse sverfa to file, Gothic afswairban to wipe off

Related formsun·swerved, adjectiveun·swerv·ing, adjectiveun·swerv·ing·ly, adverbun·swerv·ing·ness, noun

Synonym study

1. See deviate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for swerve

deflect, stray, skid, veer, lurch, wander, sheer, sidestep, depart, incline, err, shift, skew, move, diverge, turn, tack, bend, waver, swing

Examples from the Web for swerve

Contemporary Examples of swerve

Motorcycles roar and swerve around women who balance soaring bundles confidently on their heads.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis
Nina Strochlic
November 23, 2014
They kept the Portuguese in check, matching them tackle for tackle, swerve for swerve.
Team USA 2, Portugal 2: Seconds Away From World Cup Glory
Tunku Varadarajan
June 23, 2014
This kind of swerve has been ventured before and it led to an electoral dead end.
Democrats Must Run on Obamacare in November
Robert Shrum
March 17, 2014
The Swerve won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
The Books Everyone Must Read Before Graduating From College
June 4, 2013
It moved past them at a walking pace, with an odd, irregular bob and swerve like a spinning top.
Benjamin Franklin, America’s First Storm Chaser
Lee Sandlin
April 14, 2013

Historical Examples of swerve

In a swerve he almost stopped, every muscle of his big body trembling in affright.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser
It has fixed rules which are the props of order, and will not swerve or bend in extreme cases.
Statesman
Plato
The Arcadians did not swerve: in compact order they waited impassively.
Hellenica
Xenophon
And even now it was held to be undignified to swerve from that doctrine.
England and Germany
Emile Joseph Dillon
He would not swerve from the line of duty which he had marked out.
Paul Prescott's Charge
Horatio Alger

British Dictionary definitions for swerve

swerve

verb

to turn or cause to turn aside, usually sharply or suddenly, from a course

(tr) to avoid (a person or event)

noun

the act, instance, or degree of swerving

Derived Formsswervable, adjectiveswerver, noun

Word Origin for swerve

Old English sweorfan to scour; related to Old High German swerban to wipe off, Gothic afswairban to wipe off, Old Norse sverfa to file

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.).