Err, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Erred; p. pr. & vb. n. Erring (; 277, 85).]
Etymology: [F. errer, L. errare; akin to G. irren, OHG. irran, v. t., irr, v. i., OS. irrien, Sw. irra, Dan. irre, Goth, aírzjan to lead astray, airzise astray.]
1. To wander; to roam; to stray. [Archaic] "Why wilt thou err from me" Keble. What seemeth to you, if there were to a man an hundred sheep and one of them hath erred. Wyclif (Matt. xviii. 12).
2. To deviate from the true course; to miss the thing aimed at. "My jealous aim might err." Shak.
3. To miss intellectual truth; to fall into error; to mistake in judgment or opinion; to be mistaken. The man may err in his judgment of circumstances. Tillotson.
4. To deviate morally from the right way; to go astray, in a figurative sense; to do wrong; to sin. Do they not err that devise evil Prov. xiv. 22.
1 more senses
5. To offend, as by erring.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for err; he lists it under wander.
Where he writes about it:
To wander (AS. windan, wind) is to move in an indefinite or indeterminate way which may or may not be a departure from a prescribed way; to deviate (L. de, from, and via, a way) is to turn from a prescribed or right way, physically, mentally, or morally, usually in an unfavorable sense; to diverge (L. di, apart, and vergo, incline, tend) is to turn from a course previously followed or that something else follows, and has no unfavorable implication; to digress (L. di, apart, aside, and gradior, step) is used only with reference to speaking or writing; to err is used of intellectual or moral action, and of the moral with primary reference to the intellectual, an error being viewed as in some degree due to ignorance. — from wander