swervest

Verb

swerve (third-person singular simple present swerves, present participle swerving, simple past and past participle swerved)

1. (archaic) To stray; to wander; to rove.
   • A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.c. 1580 (date written), Philip Sidney, “The Fourth Booke”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie...
2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
   • with the slipping of the pommel , the point swervedc. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 24”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New...
3. 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, The Book of Common Prayer According to the Use in King's Chapel
4. To bend; to incline; to give way.
   • The battle swerved.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
   • The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.c. 1692, John Dryden, Amaryllis
6. To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.

See all 12 meanings of swerve