Definition of "careen" [ca•reen]

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

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Users of this expression may be surprised to discover that the original meaning of to careen is to turn a vessel over on its side [...]"
• "In American English, careen is certainly a Lost Cause, since its use in this erroneous sense is recognised in dictionaries, but for British English it may not be too late to rescue it."
• "Given that what people mean when they say careen is defined precisely by career, it seems clear when people say careen they mean career."