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careen

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To careen is defined as to move quickly and wildly from side to side in a specific direction in an out of control manner.

(verb)

When you lose control of a sled and start going rapidly downhill in an uncontrolled way, this is an example of a time when you careen down the hill.

See careen in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

to cause (a ship) to lean or lie on one side, as on a beach, for cleaning, repairs, etc.
to caulk, clean, or repair (a ship in this position)
to cause to lean sideways; tip; tilt

Origin: Fr carener, careen < OFr carène, carine < OIt carena < L carina, keel of a ship, orig., nutshell: see hard

intransitive verb

to lean sideways, as a sailing ship before a high wind
to lurch from side to side, esp. while moving rapidly

noun

the act or position of careening

See careen in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb ca·reened, ca·reen·ing, ca·reens

verb, intransitive

To lurch or swerve while in motion.
To rush headlong or carelessly; career: “He careened through foreign territories on a desperate kind of blitz” (Anne Tyler).
Nautical
a. To lean to one side, as a ship sailing in the wind.
b. To turn a ship on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repairing.

verb, transitive
Nautical

To cause (a ship) to lean to one side; tilt.
a. To lean (a ship) on one side for cleaning, caulking, or repairing.
b. To clean, caulk, or repair (a ship in this position).

noun
Nautical

The act or process of careening a ship.
The position of a careened ship.

Origin:

Origin: From French (en) carène, (on) the keel

Origin: , from Old French carene

Origin: , from Old Italian carena

Origin: , from Latin carīna; see kar- in Indo-European roots

Related Forms:

ca·reenˈer noun

Usage Note: The implication of rapidity that most often accompanies the use of careen as a verb of motion may have arisen naturally through the extension of the nautical sense of the verb to apply to the motion of automobiles, which generally careen, that is, lurch or tip over, only when driven at high speed. There is thus no reason to conclude that this use of the verb is the result of a confusion of careen with career, “to rush.” Whatever the origin of this use, however, it is by now so well established that it would be pedantic to object to it.

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