swerve

To stray; to wander; to rove.

A maid thitherward did run, / To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve.

To go out of a straight line; to deflect.

with the slipping of the pommel , the point swerved

To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate.

I swerve not from thy commandments.

They swerve from the strict letter of the law.

To bend; to incline; to give way.

The battle swerved.

To climb or move upward by winding or turning.

The tree was high; / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerved.

A sudden movement out of a straight line, for example to avoid a collision.

The distinction between using a skill subconsciously and employing it in the full knowledge of what was happening made a dramatic difference. I could execute a swerve to avoid an obstacle in a fraction of the time it previously took.

A deviation from duty or custom.

[…] indubitable evidence of a swerve from the principle of the work.

Synonym of drift (“sideways movement imparted by spin bowler”).