A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.c. 1580 (date written), Philip Sidney, “The Fourth Booke”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1593, →OCLC, folio 216, recto:
2
To go out of a straight line; to deflect.
with the slipping of the pommel , the point swervedc. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Thirde Booke] Chapter 24”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC, folio 493, recto:
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.1785, The Book of Common Prayer According to the Use in King's Chapel:
They swerve from the strict letter of the law.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater:
1 more example
[T]here are many Perſons, who, through the Heat of their Luſts and Paſſions, through the Contagion of Ill Example, or too deep an Immerſion in the Affairs of Life, ſwerve exceedingly from the Rules of their Holy Faith; […]1705 November 7 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Standing Revelation, the Best Means of Conviction. A Sermon Preach’d before Her Majesty, at St. James’s Chapel, on Sunday, October 28. 1705, being the Festival of St. Simon and St. Jude.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 334:
4
To bend; to incline; to give way.
The battle swerved.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
5
To climb or move upward by winding or turning.
The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.c. 1692, John Dryden, Amaryllis:
6
To turn aside or deviate to avoid impact.
7
Of a projectile, to travel in a curved line
Snodgrass also saw a free-kick swerve just wide before Arsenal, with Walcott and Fabregas by now off the bench, turned their vastly superior possession into chances in the closing moments2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC:
8
To drive in the trajectory of another vehicle to stop it, to cut off.
The French invaders, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving.1869, Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace, Part 10, Chapter 39:
Etymology From Middle English swerven, swarven, from Old English sweorfan (“to file; rub; polish; scour; turn aside”), from Proto-Germanic *swerbaną (“to rub off; wipe; mop”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerbʰ- (“to turn; wipe; sweep”). Cognate with West Frisian swerve (“to wander; roam; swerve”), Dutch zwerven (“to wander; stray; roam”), Low German swarven (“to swerve; wander; riot”), Swedish dialectal svärva (“to wipe”), Icelandic sverfa (“to file”).
1
A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.
The distinction between using a skill subconsciously and employing it in the full knowledge of what was happening made a dramatic difference. I could execute a swerve to avoid an obstacle in a fraction of the time it previously took.1990, American Motorcyclist, volume 44, number 7, page 11:
2
A deviation from duty or custom.
[…] indubitable evidence of a swerve from the principle of the work.1874, William Edwin Boardman, Faith-work, Or the Labours of Dr. Cullis, in Boston, page 56:
3
Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”).