swerve

English

/swɜː(ɹ)v/, /swɝv/

verb
Definitions
  • (archaic) To stray; to wander; to rove.
  • To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
  • 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.
  • To bend; to incline.
  • To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
  • To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
  • Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
  • To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English swerven inherited from Old English sweorfan (scour, file, rub, polish, turn aside, wipe) inherited from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (rub off, wipe, mop) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (turn, sweep, wipe).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*swerbʰ-

Gloss

turn, sweep, wipe

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Emoji
🙃

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms