Veer

//vɪə̯// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 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. 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. 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. 2
    To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve. intransitive

    "The car slid on the ice and veered out of control."

  3. 3
    shift to a clockwise direction wordnet
  4. 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. 5
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To shift aft. intransitive
  2. 7
    To change direction into the wind; to wear ship. intransitive
  3. 8
    To turn. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Dutch vieren (“to slacken”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French virer.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Middle French virer.

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