(obsolete) To let out (a sail-line), to allow (a sheet) to run out.
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, →OCLC:
[…] 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:
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Translations (12)
sh promjena smjera (change of direction - of the wind) · sh skretanje (turning) · ka მობრუნება (turning) · mi kōtore (change of direction - of the wind) · bg обръщане (turning) · bg промяна на посоката (change of direction - of the wind) · gl rolar (change of direction - of the wind) · it virata (turning) · fa ویراژ (turning) · sh obrtanje (turning) · ru поворо́т (turning) · sh promena smera (change of direction - of the wind)
(intransitive) To change direction or course suddenly; to swerve.
In recent years, the attitude of the railway authorities towards large-scale visits to works and sheds on the whole, has, happily, veered round from suspicion, and even point-blank opposition, to one of co-operation and ready welcome. 1951 April, R. S. McNaught, “Railway Enthusiasts”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 269:
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, […], →OCLC:
The car slid on the ice and veered out of control.
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:
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:
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:
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, →ISSN:
(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).
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.
(intransitive, of the wind) To shift aft.
(intransitive) To change direction into the wind; to wear ship.
(transitive) To turn.
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veering
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veered
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veered
Tense=Past
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Antonyms
haul forward (antonym(s) of “of the wind, to shift aft”) · back (antonym(s) of “of the wind, to shift clockwise”)
ru поверну́ть (transitive: to turn) · fi kääntyä tuuleen (to change direction into the wind) · ru повора́чивать (transitive: to turn) · bg обръщам (transitive: to turn) · de drehen (transitive: to turn) · bg хващам вятъра (to change direction into the wind) · ru меня́ть курс (transitive: to turn) · mi kōtore (transitive: to turn) · de rechtdrehen (of wind: to shift in a clockwise direction) · de abdrehen (to change direction or course suddenly) · fi laskea (of wind: to shift in a clockwise direction) · mi tōrua (transitive: to turn) · fr virer (to change direction or course suddenly) · cs měnit směr (to change direction or course suddenly) · cmn 转向 (to change direction or course suddenly) · ka მიმართულების შეცვლა (to change direction or course suddenly) · it virare (to change direction or course suddenly) · sk zabočiť (to change direction or course suddenly) · es virar (to change direction or course suddenly) · fi kaartaa (to change direction or course suddenly) · fr virer (to change direction into the wind) · pt virar (transitive: to turn) · sh skrenuti (transitive: to turn) · mi tataha (to change direction or course suddenly) · fr tourner (to change direction or course suddenly) · ka მობრუნება (transitive: to turn) · cs náhle zahnout (to change direction or course suddenly) · fr virer (transitive: to turn) · oc virar (transitive: to turn) · cs stočit se (to change direction or course suddenly) · fi kääntää (transitive: to turn) · fa ویراژ دادن (transitive: to turn) · sh скренути (transitive: to turn) · fa تغییر جهت دادن (transitive: to turn) · de ausscheren (to change direction or course suddenly) · es virar (transitive: to turn) · sk zahnúť (to change direction or course suddenly) · cs změnit směr (to change direction or course suddenly) · mi kōrure (of wind: to shift in a clockwise direction) · mi tōrua (of wind: to shift in a clockwise direction) · cs stočit (transitive: to turn)
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. 1868, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Belgravia, volume 5, page 490: