veer

verb (used without object)

1. to change direction or turn about or aside; shift, turn, or change from one course, position, inclination, etc., to another: The speaker kept veering from his main topic. The car veered off the road.
2. (of the wind)
   1. to change direction clockwise (opposed to back¹def 30).
   2. Nautical.to shift to a direction more nearly astern (opposed to hauldef 8c).

verb (used with object)

3. to alter the direction or course of; turn.
4. Nautical. to turn (a vessel) away from the wind; wear.

noun

5. a change of direction, position, course, etc.: a sudden veer in a different direction.

verb (used with object) Nautical.

1. to slacken or let out: to veer chain.

adjective

1. shaped like the letter V: a vee neckline.

noun

2. anything shaped like or suggesting a V.

verb

1. to alter direction (of); swing around
2. (intr) to change from one position, opinion, etc, to another
3. (intr)
   1. (of the wind) to change direction clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern
   2. nauticalto blow from a direction nearer the sternCompare haul (def. 5)
4. nautical to steer (a vessel) off the wind

noun

5. a change of course or direction

verb

1. (tr; often foll by out or away) nautical to slacken or pay out (cable or chain)

v.

1580s, “to change direction” (originally with reference to the wind), from Middle French virer “to turn,” of uncertain origin, perhaps from the Latin stem vir- in viriae (plural) “bracelets;” or perhaps from a Vulgar Latin contraction of Latin vibrare “to shake.” Related: veered, veering.

n.

1883, to denote the shape of the letter V. As a type of engine, by 1951.