Swerve, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swerved; p. pr. & vb. n. Swerving.]
Etymology: [OE. swerven, AS. sweorfan to wipe off, to file, to polish; akin to OFries. swerva to creep, D. zwerven to swerve, to rope, OS. swerban to wipe off, MHG. swerben to be whirled, OHG. swerban to wipe off, Icel. sverfa to file, Goth. swaírban (in comp.) to wipe, and perhaps to E. swarm. Cf. Swarm.]
1. To stray; to wander; to rope. [Obs.] A maid thitherward did run, To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve. Sir P. Sidney.
2. To go out of a straight line; to deflect. "The point [of the sword] swerved." Sir P. Sidney.
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. Bk. of Com. Prayer. They swerve from the strict letter of the law. Clarendon. Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion. Atterbury.
4. To bend; to incline. "The battle swerved." Milton.
1 more senses
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning. The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. Dryden.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Swerve, v. t.
To turn aside. Gauden.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for swerve; he lists it under fluctuate, wander.
Where he writes about it:
To swerve or veer is to turn suddenly from a prescribed or previous course, and often but momentarily; veer is more capricious and repetitious; the horse swerves at the flash of a sword; the wind veers; the ship veers with the wind. — from wander