Veer
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 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."
- 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
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To shift aft. intransitive
- 7 To change direction into the wind; to wear ship. intransitive
- 8 To turn. transitive
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"This done, the sailyards to the wind we veer, / and leave the Grecians and the land of fear."
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle Dutch vieren (“to slacken”).
Borrowed from Middle French virer.