body swerven.
/ˈbɒdɪ swəːv/, U.S. /ˈbɑdi ˌswərv/ British.
1. Originally and chiefly Sport, esp. Association Football. An abrupt dodging or swerving motion of the body used to avoid collision or interception, esp. tactically in order to deceive an opponent as to one's intended direction of movement; the skilled use of such a move.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > association football > [noun] > actions or manoeuvres
holding1866
hand-balling1867
left-footer1874
header1875
handball1879
goal kick1881
corner1882
spot kick1884
middle1899
clearance1920
cross-kick1927
cross-pass1929
body swerve1933
open goal1934
headball1936
chip1939
through-ball1956
wall pass1958
outswinger1959
cross1961
overlap1969
blooter1976
hospital pass1978
route one1978
sidefoot1979
top bin1999
ankle-biting2001
1933 Times 4 Dec. 5/5 Crowe, after twice puzzling the Harlequin tacklers with his pronounced body swerve.., went on trying to beat them single-handed.
1937 F. N. S. Creek Assoc. Football ii. 33 Another, but more difficult method of dribbling past an opponent is to persuade him to move out of the path of the ball by body-swerve.
1943 Daily Express in B. James Eng. v Scotl. (1969) viii. 181 Stanley Matthews..provided the best entertainment with his uncanny footwork and body-swerve.
1964 Times 10 Oct. 11/3 Those [pheasants] which by pace, side-slip and body swerve defeat the men below tuck up in undergrowth on pitching down.
1984 Guardian Weekly 30 Dec. 16/2 I'm lucky, I once or twice saw the languid, arrogant outside body swerve of Richard Sharp; then there was the carefree, waiflike, insoucience [sic] of Barry John; the hopscotch of Bennett; [etc.].
2002 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 4 Mar. (Sport section) 3 The Finn beat his former Ajax goalkeeper with a body swerve before scoring with a well-executed shot from a difficult angle.
2. colloquial. In extended use. An expedient evasion; an abrupt and unexpected change of course. Esp. in to give (something) a body swerve: to give (something) a miss, to go out of one's way to avoid (something).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > [noun] > avoiding an action or condition > avoiding duty, work, or exertion > evasion of responsibility, obligation, etc. > an act or means of
evasionc1425
put-by1548
put-off1548
subterfuge1581
scape-sermon1654
offput1730
come-offa1836
bypass1957
body swerve1984
1984 Financial Times 15 Dec. 19/4 In 1981 the whole coalfield came out and forced Mrs Thatcher, if not into a U-turn, at least into a body swerve, as Scots miners' leader Mick McGahey put it.
1985 M. Munro Patter 12 I'm meant to be goin [sic] to my old dear's but I think I'll give it a body swerve.
1993 Daily Mirror 4 Aug. 24/4 A plot full of body swerves in a scintillating sex thriller that artfully apes the dark mysteries of the Forties.
1998 N. Hornby About Boy (1999) xxxii. 249 He'd used the phrase to prove that he knew it.., but quickly realized that if you knew it, these were precisely the circumstances in which you would give it an enormous body-swerve; it sounded flip and pseud and shallow.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1933