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To change direction; to turn; to shift; as, wind veers to the west or north. "His veering gait." Wordsworth. And as he leads, the following navy veers. Dryden. an ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about. Burke. To veer and haul (Naut.), to vary the course or direction; -…

Shifting. -- Veer"ing*ly, adv.

pale buff, thickly spotted with brown. Called also Wilson's thrush. Sometimes I hear the veery's clarion. Thoreau.

To beat against the wind; to tack. [Obs.] Dryden.

as, to bitt the cable, in order to fasten it or to slacken it gradually, which is called veering away. Totten.

An upright wooden or iron post in a boat or on a dock, used in veering or fastening ropes. Bollard timber (Naut.), a timber, also called a knighthead, rising just within the stem in a ship, on either side of the bowsprit, to secure its end.

To put (a vessel) on the other tack by veering her short round on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind). Totten.

rom wind and heavy seas. -- Submarine cable. See Telegraph. -- To pay out the cable, To veer out the cable, to slacken it, that it may run out of the ship; to let more cable run out of the hawse hole. -- To serve the cable, to bind it round with ropes, canvas, etc., to prevent its being, worn or galled in the hawse,…

To move toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east; to orientate.

To veer to the east; -- said of the wind. Russell.

To bring one's self; to make headway; to veer; as, to fetch about; to fetch to windward. Totten. To fetch away (Naut.), to break loose; to roll slide to leeward. -- To fetch and carry, to serve obsequiously, like a trained spaniel.

The fan wheel that rotates the cap of a windmill as the wind veers. Internat. Cyc.

holes, to enter the naval service at the lowest grade. [Cant] -- To freshen the hawse, to veer out a little more cable and bring the chafe and strain on another part.

d as often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de- lis. But sailing further, it veers its lily to the west. Sir T. Browne. African lily (Bot.), the blue-flowered Agapanthus umbellatus. -- Atamasco lily (Bot.), a plant of the genus Zephyranthes (Z. Atamasco), having a white and pink funnelform perianth, with…

To turn or move toward the north; to veer from the east or west toward the north.

To place or turn toward the east; to cause to assume an easterly direction, or to veer eastward.

To make a change or changes; to change position; to move; to veer; to substitute one thing for another; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak. Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat. Sir W. Scott.

To turn or move toward the south; to veer toward the south.

Free from stain; immaculate. Shak. The veery care he took to keep his name Stainless, with some was evidence of shame. Crabbe.

take a direction, or course; to obey the helm; as, the boat steers easily. Where the wind Veers oft, as oft [a ship] so steers, and shifts her sail. Milton.