What does "veer" mean?

A turn or swerve; an instance of veering.

What is a synonym for "veer"?

Common synonyms include: swerve, aberrancy, aberration, about ship, alter, ameliorate.

//vɪə̯// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Noun

1
A turn or swerve; an instance of veering.
"[…] there is always a sudden, though small rise in the barometer, and a sudden drop of temperature of several degrees, sometimes as much as ten or fifteen degrees; there is also a sudden veer in the wind direction."
2
A piglet or a heifer. Cornwall
"But with us veers are little pigs; and in some parishes heifers are called veers too. So you see it is not such a noble name with us, that I was going to be startled at the idea of a veer eating up my grass."

Verb

1
To let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out. obsolete
"As when a skilfull Marriner doth reed / A storme approching, that doth perill threat, / He will not bide the daunger of such dread, / But strikes his sayles, and vereth his mainsheat, / And lends vnto it leaue the emptie ayre to beat."
2
To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve. intransitive
"The car slid on the ice and veered out of control."
3
shift to a clockwise direction wordnet
4
To shift in a clockwise direction (if in the Northern Hemisphere, or in a counterclockwise direction if in the Southern Hemisphere). intransitive
"1966, F. K. Hare, The Restless Atmosphere, 4th edition, Hutchinson University Library It is clear that when a front passes the observer, there must be a sudden shift in wind: in the northern hemisphere it will always veer, that is, shift in a clockwise sense."
5
turn sharply; change direction abruptly wordnet