SWERVE, v.i. swerv. 1. To wander; to rove. The swerving vines on the tall elms prevail.2. 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. They swerve from the strict letter of the law.Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion--3. To bend; to incline.4. To climb or move forward by winding or turning. The tree was high, Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerv'd.[This use of the word coincides with that of swarm, which see.]
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