veer
/vɪə̯/US/vɪ(ə)ɹ/
veer verb: to let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
Verb (1)
veer (third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered)
- To let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
- As when a skilfull Marriner doth reed / A storme approching, that doth perill threat, / He will not bide the daunger of such dread, / But strikes his sayles, and vereth his mainsheat, / And lends vnto it leaue the emptie ayre to beat.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Noun (1)
veer (plural veers)
- A turn or swerve; an instance of veering.
- […] there is always a sudden, though small rise in the barometer, and a sudden drop of temperature of several degrees, sometimes as much as ten or fifteen degrees; there is also a sudden veer in the wind direction.1917, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Verb (2)
veer (third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered)
- To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve.
- The car slid on the ice and veered out of control.
- And as he leads, the following navy veers.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To shift in a clockwise direction (if in the Northern Hemisphere, or in a counterclockwise direction if in the Southern Hemisphere).
- It is clear that when a front passes the observer, there must be a sudden shift in wind: in the northern hemisphere it will always veer, that is, shift in a clockwise sense.1966, F. K. Hare, The Restless Atmosphere, 4th edition, Hutchinson University Library
- To shift aft.
- To change direction into the wind; to wear ship.
- To turn.
Noun (2)
veer (plural veers)
Proper noun capitalized: Veer
Veer
- A surname.
veer meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
veer in Tamil
- திசைமாற்று, திருப்பு, மாற்று
veer in Urdu
- بدل جانا, ہٹنا, سمت بدلنا, بدل دینا, گھمانا, موڑنا
veer in Telugu
- వీర్
veer in Malayalam
- വെട്ടിത്തിരിയുക, ഗതിമാറുക, മനസ്സു മാറുക
More languagesFewer languages
- veer in Kannada
- ಬದಿಗೆ ಸರಿ, ತಿರುಗು, ದಿಕ್ಕು ಬದಲಾಯಿಸು, ಮನಸ್ಸನ್ನು ತಿರುಗಿಸು
- veer in Persian
- ویراژ virâž, ویراژ دادن virâž dâdan, تغییر جهت دادن taġyir jahat dâdan
Examples of veer in a sentence
- It is not with an ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about.1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace:
- At this time in 2008, even as the global economy veered toward collapse, optimism about Washington ran surprisingly high.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times:
- As for the legions of paintings, they veer between the bland and bizarre.2023 October 11, Jonathan Jones, “Frieze London art fair review – a graveyard of creativity for tasteless one percenters”, in The Guardian...
Antonyms of veer
- back
- haul forward
Forms of veer
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | veers |
| present participle | veering |
| past participle | veered |
| past | veered |
| Noun | |
| plural | veers |
Origin of veer
Borrowed from Middle Dutch vieren (“to slacken”).
Borrowed from Middle French virer.
Words formed from veer
Words that rhyme with veer
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- spear
- career
- fear
- here
- steer
- appear
- cavalier
- cheer
- leer
- pioneer
- queer
- volunteer
- adhere
- beer
- chandelier
- deer
- financier
- pier
- premier
- privateer
- sheer
- vizier
- austere
- bombardier
- brigadier
- cashmere
- commandeer
- disappear
- endear
- grenadier
- interfere
- mere
- mountaineer
- peer
- sear
- tear
- tier
- unclear
- arrear
- bier
- blear
- cameleer
- cashier
- chiffonier
- cohere
- fakir
- farseer
- frontier
Questions about veer
- What does veer mean?
- Veer means to let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
- What is veer in Tamil?
- Veer in Tamil is திசைமாற்று, திருப்பு, மாற்று. See Veer meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use veer in a sentence?
- It is not with an ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about.
- What part of speech is veer?
- Veer can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce veer?
- Veer is pronounced /vɪə̯/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of veer?
- The past tense of veer is veered.
Words near veer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: veer (page history and authors); Veer (page history and authors); veer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); veer (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); veer (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); veer (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); veer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-veer.wav.
Cite this entry: “veer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/veer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.