Swērve, v. i.
v. i. [imp. & p. p. SWERVED; p. pr. & vb. n. SWERVING.] [O. Eng. swarve, q. v.; L. Ger. swarven, D. zwerven, to swerve, to rove, M. H. Ger. swerben, to be whirled, to wander, O. H. Ger. & O. Sax. suerban, Goth. svairban, to wipe, Icel. sverfa, to file. Cf. SWARM.]
Sense 1. To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule of duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, or custom; to deviate.
I swerve not from thy commandments. 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.
Sense 2. To bend; to incline. “The battle swerved.” Milton.
Sense 3. To climb or move upward by winding or turning; to swarm.
The tree was high: Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. Dryden.