swerve

Meanings

Verb

  • To stray; to wander; to rove.
  • To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
  • 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.
  • To bend; to incline.
  • To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
  • To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
  • Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
  • To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off.

Noun

  • A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.
  • A deviation from duty or custom.

Origin

  • From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan ("to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside"), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną ("to rub off; wipe; mop"), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- ("to turn; wipe; sweep"). Cognate with West Frisian swerve ("to wander; roam; swerve"), Dutch zwerven ("to wander; stray; roam"), Low German swarven ("to swerve; wander; riot"), Swedish dialectal svärva, Icelandic sverfa.

Modern English dictionary

Explore and search massive catalog of over 900,000 word meanings.

Word of the Day

Get a curated memorable word every day.

Challenge yourself

Level up your vocabulary by setting personal goals.

And much more

Try out Vedaist now.