Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE'VI-ATE, v.i. [It. deviare; Sp. desviarse; L. devius; de, from, and via, way.]

1. To turn aside or wander from the common or right way, course or line, either in a literal or figurative sense; as, to deviate from the common track or path, or from a true course. There nature deviates, and here wanders will. – Pope.
2. To stray from the path of duty; to wander, in a moral sense; to err; to sin.