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.
5. To climb or move upward by winding or turning. The tree was high; Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved. Dryden.
SWERVE
Swerve, v. t.
Defn: To turn aside. Gauden.
SWEVEN Swe"ven, n. Etym: [AS. swefen sleep, dream; akin to swebban, swefian, to put to sleep, to kill. *176. See Somnolent.]
Defn: A vision seen in sleep; a dream. [Obs.] Wycliff (Acts ii. 17).
I defy both sweven and dream. Chaucer.
SWICH
Swich, a. Etym: [See Such.]
Defn: Such. [Obs.]
Swich things as that I know I will declare. Chaucer.
SWIETENIA Swie*te"ni*a, n. Etym: [NL. Named after Gerard Van Sweiten, physician to Maria Theresa of Austria.] (Bot.)