[kuh-reen] 
| 1. | (of a vehicle) to lean, sway, or tip to one side while in motion: The car careened around the corner. |
| 2. | (of a ship) to heel over or list. |
| 3. | career (def. 7). |
| 4. | South Midland U.S. to lean or bend away from the vertical position: The barn was careening a little. |
| 5. | to cause (a ship) to lie over on a side, as for repairs or cleaning; heave down. |
| 6. | to clean or repair (a ship lying on its side for the purpose). |
| 7. | to cause (a ship) to heel over or list, as by the force of a beam wind. |
| 8. | a careening. |
| 9. | Nautical. the position of a careened ship. |
| ca·reen (kə-rēn') v. ca·reened, ca·reen·ing, ca·reens v. intr.
[From French (en) carène, (on) the keel, from Old French carene, from Old Italian carena, from Latin carīna; see kar- in Indo-European roots.] ca·reen'er n. 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. |