Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SWERVE, v.i. [swerv; D. zwerven, to swerve, to rove. In sense it coincides with the verb to swarm, and in German it is rendered schwärmen. It seems to be formed on warp, and all may spring from the root of veer. See Vary.]

1. To wander; to rove. Sidney. The swerving vines on the tall elms prevail. – Dryden.
2. To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule of duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, or custom; to deviate. I swerve not from thy commandments. – Com. Prayer. They swerve from the strict letter of the law. Clarendon. Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedingly from the rules of their holy religion. – Atterbury.
3. To bend; to incline.
4. To climb or move forward by winding or turning. The tree was high, / Yet nimbly up from bough to bough I swerv'd. – Dryden. [This use of the word coincides with that of swarm, – which see.]