Forms: α. 3–4 pa. t. swarf, 4– swerve, (6 Sc. suirve, suerwe, pa. pple. swarven); β. 5– (now dial.) swarve (6 swarfe, Sc. suarve, 7 swarv). [Com. Teut. (orig.) str. vb. with a variety of meanings: ME. swerve, pa. t. swarf to turn aside, repr. OE. sweorfan, pa. t. swearf, pa. pple. sworfen to file, scour, = OFris. swerva to creep, (WFris. swerv (j)e, pa. t. swurf, pa. pple. swurven to wander, hurry away, NFris. swarwi), OS. *swerðan to wipe, only in pa. t. swarf, MDu. swerven (Du. zwerven) to rove, stray, LG. swarven to swerve, stray, riot, OHG. swerban (MHG. swerben) to wipe, to move quickly backwards and forwards, whirl or twirl round (mod.G. has a derivative form schwirbeln), ON. sverfa, pa. t. svarf, svurfum, pa. pple. sorfinn to file, (Norw. swerva to whirl, swirl), Goth. -swaírban in afswaírban, biswaírban to wipe away).
The original sense of the radical may be that of agitated, irregular, or deflected movement; cf. SWARM sb., etym. The sense of filing did not survive the OE. period, but is preserved in the derivative sb. SWARF sb.2 The sudden emergence of the sense of ‘turn aside’ in ME. is remarkable; the presumption is that it existed in OE., since there is no known foreign source to account for it.]
† 1. intr. To depart; to make off. Obs. rare.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2181. Heo swarf to Criste upon þe þreo & twentuðe dei of Nouembres moneð.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2358. I … swaruyt out swiftly, might no swayne folo.
2. To turn aside, deviate in movement from the straight or direct course.
In early use, of a glancing blow or weapon.
α. c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 9359 (Kölbing). Þe dint swarf & flei for bi.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 743. Þat swerd on ys syde swarf.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 7. As a drunke man I swerve. Ibid., III. 92. Riht so was This erthe set … That it may swerve to no side.
1541. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., L iij. Ye ought to haue a quyll wt a hole in the syde wher with the other syde of the lyppe shal be steyed, bycause it shall nat swerue.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xix. 436. As if Nature on set purpose mistook her mark, and made her hand to swerve.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 761. His lab’ring team, that swerv’d not from the track.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., iii. The animal swerved at the moment his master fired.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., xxxii. Nothing looks so pusillanimous as to see a chap ride bang at a fence as though he would eat it, and then swerve off for a gate or a gap.
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Maurice Dering, II. 19. The bullet did not swerve from its mark one hair’s-breadth.
1901. [see SWERVE sb.].
β. c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5785. Swordis, with swapping, swaruyt on helmes.
c. 1450. Merlin, xx. 341. Yef the swerde hadde not swarued, maymed hadde he ben for euer.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 166. Yf it [sc. the ball] be cast vp crokedly, it swarueth & falleth on that one syde or on yt other.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, B v. With hys sword drawen [he] ran at hys sonne, who by swarving with hys body, avoyded the stroke.
1557. Edgeworth, Serm., Repert. A iij. In Croked thinges the midle swarueth from the extremities.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 14. Vp to heauen … Her stedfast eyes were bent, ne swarued other way.
1598. Barckley, Felic. Man, 173. The beasts that drew Darius wagon hauing no man to gouerne them, were swarued out of the high way.
1607. Markham, Caval., II. xxiii. (1617), 248. The very center of the ring, from which your eye in running must not swarue.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. x. (1635), 220. The Sunne neuer swaruing from his Eclipticke, hath his course equally diuided by the Horizon.
1741. [see SWERVE sb.].
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxiv. The horse swarved round.
b. To turn in a specified direction; to be deflected (statically).
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., lxxxvii. And so my pattent back againe is sweruing.
1607. Markham, Caval., VII. xlii. 60. Waights of such sufficient poise as may either drawe the Crest vp straight, or els mak it leane to that side from whence it swerueth.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 40 (1822), I. 316. While the leaves issue from it, and swerve upwards with their elegant points.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., vi. 157. In those secluded villages where the high post and railroads swerve in the distance.
1883. Mag. Art, Aug., 398/1. The road swerves to the left.
† c. trans. To deviate from (a path). Obs. rare.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 627. When the duke had wyttynge of the Kynges great power, he swaruyd the way from the Kyoges hoost and toke the way towarde London.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales (1837), 140. It [sc. sin] makes him passe beyond the boundes of kynde, And swerve the trade where truth and vertues lay.
3. intr. To turn away or be deflected from a (right) course of action, a line of conduct, an opinion, etc.; to waver, vacillate.
a. 1400. ? Chaucer, Compl. to Mortal Foe, 29. I preye, as he that wol nat swerve, That I may fare the better for my trouthe.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 714. Neoptolem is swarved out of kinde.
1557. Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 176. Since so vnconstantly thou wilt Not loue, but still be swaruing.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. ii. 133. Are they … Constant in spirit, not sweruing with the blood?
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 359. Firm we subsist, yet possible to swerve.
1810. Wordsw., Sonn., ‘Avaunt all specious pliancy of mind,’ 7. Honour that knows the path and will not swerve.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Swedenborg, Wks. (Bohn), I. 334. With a tenacity that never swerved … he adheres to this brave choice.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, XII. ii. II. 293. She argued with him, but he would not swerve a jot.
1884. L. J. Jennings, Croker Papers, I. x. 278. Mr. Croker … never swerved in his support of every well-directed measure for Catholic relief.
b. Const. from.
α. 1390. Gower, Conf., I. 240. So that I mihte … Fro suche that mi ladi serve Hire herte make forto swerve. Ibid., II. 42. And yit therfro mai noman swerve, That he ne mot his lawe obeie.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 30. He wold … neuer haue had so farre swaruen from his principal, as [etc.]. [Cf. boden and stoken in the preceding context.]
1554. Act 1 & 2 Phil. & Mary, c. 8 § 1. As well the Spiritualtie as the Temporaltie … have swerved from the Obedience of the See Apostolike.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. ii. 191. If I be false, or swerue a haire from truth.
1626. Middleton, Women Beware Women, V. i. 163. This swerves a little from the argument.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., II. I. i. § 3. 206. The … converting of Christendom to that ancient and Apostolick purity … from which they have so long time swerved.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. Pref. It will to some appear most … impudent to attempt to swerve from the spelling received and established.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. Conf. Drunkard. What hinders in your instance that you do not return to those habits from which you would induce others never to swerve?
1868. E. Edwards, Ralegh, I. xxvii. 683. From the resolute vindication of the Guiana enterprise itself Sir Walter never really swerved.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ix. § 10. 710. The wealth around him never made Walpole swerve from a rigid economy.
β. a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 510. If he or ye kynge of Nauerne wolde swarue from any poynt or artycle of the sayd former agrement.
1521. in Bradshaw’s St. Werburge (1887), 202. Thys soule … from vertue neuer swarued [rhyme preserued].
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii[i]. 110. Yet swarue not I from thy commaundementes.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, To Rdr. (Arb.), 11. As what shal seeme too swarue from theyre maximes, they wyl not stick too skore vp for errours.
1611. Bible, 1 Tim. i. 6. From which [sc. charity] some hauing swarued, haue turned aside vnto vaine iangling.
a. 1632. T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. II. vii. (1642), 177. Astyages … so much swarved from humanity, that he gave in strict charge that … his own daughter’s sonne … should be made away.
1642. Chas. I., Answ. Declar. Lds. & Comm., 19 May, 6. We have not at all swarved or departed from Our Resolution.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 20. Let him never suffer me To swarve or turn aside From his free grace.
† (b). To forsake, desert, be disloyal to (a person); also, to differ from, be discrepant from.
a. 1400. ? Chaucer, Compl. to Lode-sterre, 40. My herte and body, shal I never swerve From you.
1566[?]. R. W[itc], To the vnconstant E. T., xxvi. Frequent not Womens company but see thou from them swarue.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 191. That thy nature should not swerue from thy name.
1584. B. R., trans. Herodotus, I. 55 b. From whom the Caryans themselues doe greatly dissent and swarue in opinion.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 55. The Captaines on her side, Corrupted by Paulinus, from her sweru’d.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, Ep. Ded. A vj. In the names of the Beasts and the Physicke I have not swarued from him at all.
a. 1656. Ussher, Power Princes, I. (1683), 3. Neither doth St. Peter any whit swerve from his beloved brother Paul.
c. Const. to, towards, † occas. on.
c. 1550. R. Bieston, Bayte Fortune, B ij b. By arrogance oultrageous thy tounge on vaunting swerueth.
1570. T. Norton, Nowel’s Catech., 9. Our soules are sayd to be defiled with adulterie, when they swarue [orig. deflectunt] from God to idolatrie and superstition.
a. 1586. Sidney, Ps. XXXVII. xviii. Who be swarved To ill, both they and theirs shall wrack.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxv. My passion hath not swerved To works of weakness.
1882. J. H. Blunt, Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 485. Charles … was never in danger of swerving toward either Romanism on the one hand, or Puritanism on the other.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, March, x. And to the Cretan maid her worship swerved.
† d. Without constr.: To deviate from the right; to err; to go astray, esp. morally; to transgress.
1576. W. Rawely, in Gascoigne, Steele Gl., Wks. 1910, II. 139. The life likewise, were pure that never swerved.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 163. Saying, that at no time our deedes haue so swerued, that they might be amended.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., XIII. lxxvii. (1612), 318. How all these Deities than Men more brutishly did swerue.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 129. But (alas) I swerue.
† e. To go back on what one has said. Obs.
1527. St. Papers Hen. VIII., VI. 593. He many tymes swarfethe in wordes. Ibid. (1529), VII. 160. As thEmperouris folkis first sayd, but nowe swarfe.
† 4. To give way; to sway, totter; fig. to shrink from action. Obs.
1573. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxix. 158. The Suddartis swarfit, and said thay wald not sar.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. xxv. (1912), 502. My Muse hath swarved, From such deepe plaint as should such woes descrie.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 42. With that she swaruing backe, her Iauelin bright Against him bent.
1596. Drayton, Legends, iv. 276. With faintness shee began to reele, Shewing her selfe a little as shee swarv’d.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xx. § 68. This so round and quicke dealing with the Earles complices…, startled his shallow … inuentions, and made their whole bulke to swarue and splinter.
1649. Milton, Tenure of Kings, 4. Another sort … begin to swerve and almost shiver at the majesty … of som noble deed, as if they were newly enter’d into a great sin.
1650. W. D., trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 538. Beginning to totter and reel (swerve and lean to a side) it [sc. a house] must needs be shored up with some arch.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 386. The battel swerv’d, With many an inrode gor’d.
1818. Shelley, Euganean Hills, 41. Every little living nerve That from bitter words did swerve Round the tortured lips and brow.
5. To rove, stray. Also fig. to digress.
1543. Becon, New Year’s Gift, Wks. 1564, I. 175 b. Al are swarued and clene gone out of the way.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Cheat of Cupid, 10. I [sc. Cupid] a Boy am, who By Moonlesse nights have swerved.
1655. in Hartlib, Ref. Commonw. Bees, 9. In case that upon the neglect any be swarved forth, and settled unto some tree.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., II. vi. 61. Now it is time to come to the Wound itself,… hitherto I swarved round about.
1698. A. Brand, Emb. Muscovy to China, 111. He had swarved about the Desart for three days.
1745. Gleditsch’s Teutsch-Engl. Lex., s.v. Schwärmen, He swerves about by night.
† 8. = SWARM v.2, SWARVE v.2 Obs.
1606. Drayton, Odes (1619), Skeltoniad, 29. Parnassus is not clome By euery such Mome; Vp whose steep side who swerues, It behoues t’ haue strong Nerues.
1692. Dryden, Amaryllis, 24. Nimbly up, from bough to bough I swerv’d. Ibid. (1697), Æneid, II. 606. Some mount the scaling Ladders; some more bold, Swerve upwards, and by Posts and Pillars hold.
7. trans. To cause to turn aside or deviate (lit. and fig.).
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 54. Bot he his yhe awey ne swerveth Fro hire. Ibid., III. 25.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin. (1769), V. 73. He hath suarvid his Course a good But Shotte of.
c. 1590. J. Stewart, Poems (S.T.S.), II. 204/6. That schrink of sorrow nether suerwe nor smart The Interpryse of thy magnanime hart.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 10. How manie haue wee in this error swerud Who in themselues haue iustly wel deserud.
1617. Swetnam, Sch. Sci. Defence, 142. The defence of this guard … is to swerue his vper-hand, this way, or that way.
1629. Sir W. Mure, Sonn., ix. 2. A constant course … each creature keeps, Not swarving from thine ordinance their ends.
1659. Gauden, Tears Ch., IV. xi. 460. Those Scotish motions and pretentions … swerved them … from the former good constitution of the Church of England.
1723. Dk. Wharton, True Briton, No. 9. I. 77. To swerve them from that Allegiance.
1801. Eliz. Helme, St. Marg. Cave, II. 263. Your son has received my decided opinion, and from which nothing shall swerve me.
1816. Scott, Antiq., viii. Swerve the yard a bit—Now—there! there she sits safe on dry land.
1878. Proctor, Pleas. Ways Sci., iii. (1879), 69. We determine Jupiter’s mass … by noting how he swerves his moons at their respective (estimated) distances.
1897. Flora A. Steel, On Face of Waters, I. vi. 74. Swerving his bullock to give them room.
b. Cricket and Baseball. To cause a ball to deflect by imparting a spinning motion to it as it leaves the bowler or pitcher.
1906. N. & Q., 10th Ser. V. 426/1. The word ‘swerve’ has been used in cricket for the last two seasons, as applied to the bowling of B. J. T. Bosanquet…. He intentionally imparts a direction to the ball in its flight through the air before it touches ground.
1911. P. F. Warner, Cricket, 29. Such a [bowler] as Hirst, who swerves from the off at a fast pace. [Cf. SWERVE sb., quot. 1901.]
