Definition of "veer"

veer¹

/vɪə/

verb
third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered
1. (obsolete, nautical) To let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
  Quotations
  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.
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

veer²

/vɪə/

noun
plural veers
1. A turn or swerve; an instance of veering.
  Quotations
  […] 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.
  1917, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
verb
third-person singular simple present veers, present participle veering, simple past and past participle veered
1. (intransitive) To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve.
  Quotations
  And as he leads, the following navy veers.
  1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
  We are in a war of a peculiar nature. It is not with an ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about.
  1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace
  At this time in 2008, even as the global economy veered toward collapse, optimism about Washington ran surprisingly high.
  2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎
  As he neared a bridge over the East Coast Main Line near Great Heck, he lost control. His Land Rover left the carriageway and veered onto the hard shoulder before biting into the grass verge.[page 39] It ran derailed for about 500 yards before encountering a set of points, which caused it to veer into the path of an Immingham-Ferrybridge coal train, powered by Freightliner 66521 (one of a class of locomotive well-known for being well-built enough to destroy anything that got in its way).
  2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, pages 38, 39
  As for the legions of paintings, they veer between the bland and bizarre.
  2023 October 11, Jonathan Jones, “Frieze London art fair review – a graveyard of creativity for tasteless one percenters”, in The Guardian‎
2. (intransitive, of the wind) To shift in a clockwise direction (if in the Northern Hemisphere, or in a counterclockwise direction if in the Southern Hemisphere).
  Quotations
  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.
  1966, F. K. Hare, The Restless Atmosphere, 4th edition, Hutchinson University Library
3. (intransitive, nautical, of the wind) To shift aft.
4. (intransitive, nautical) To change direction into the wind; to wear ship.
5. (transitive) To turn.

Definition of "veer"

veer1

verb

Quotations

veer2

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations

veer¹

veer²