DIVERT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Divert

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/daɪvˈərt/ /dɪvˈərt/ Listen

verb

Divert v. t. (past & past part. diverted; pres. part. diverting)

To turn aside; to turn off from any course or intended application; to deflect; as, to divert a river from its channel; to divert commerce from its usual course. "That crude apple that diverted Eve."

To turn away from any occupation, business, or study; to cause to have lively and agreeable sensations; to amuse; to entertain; as, children are diverted with sports; men are diverted with works of wit and humor. "We are amused by a tale, diverted by a comedy."

Synonyms: To please; gratify; amuse; entertain; exhilarate; delight; recreate. See Amuse.

Divert v. i. To turn aside; to digress. (Obs.) "I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces."

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Etymology of 'Divert'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Divert" Quotes from Famous Books

... P: And as we find our passions do rebel, Encounter them with reason, or divert them, By giving scope unto some other humour Of lesser danger: as, in politic bodies, There's nothing more doth overwhelm the judgment, And cloud the understanding, than too much Settling and fixing, ...

— Volpone; Or, The Fox • Ben Jonson

... T minus four minutes. To divert Jordan's attention Clements suggested that he watch the pilots of the photography ships who were about to board. With some difficulty Jordan focussed the instrument and observed the two pilots walk across the apron in front of the main operations ...

— If at First You Don't... • John Brudy

... she, "Doth it not suffice her that she tricked thee into marrying her and kept thee prisoner with her a whole year, but she must also make thee swear by the oath of divorce, that thou wilt return to her on the same night before morning, and not allow thee to divert thyself with thy mother or me, nor suffer thee to pass one night with either of us, away from her? How then must it be with one from whom thou hast been absent a full year, and I knew thee before she did? But Allah have mercy on thy cousin Azizah, for there befel her ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... Mrs. Blake sought to divert Ashton from his disappointment, but he had ears only for the laughing, chatting couple behind him. The fact that Blake was a married man did not prevent the lover from giving way to jealous envy. Chancing to look around as he warned the hilarious pair of a gully, ...

— Out of the Depths - A Romance of Reclamation • Robert Ames Bennet

... no statue of Michael Angelo's, has ever been worshipped, except by accident. Carelessly regarded, and by ignorant persons, there is less to attract in them than in commoner works. Carefully regarded, and by intelligent persons, they instantly divert the mind from their subject to their art, so that admiration takes the place of devotion. I do not say that the Madonna di S. Sisto, the Madonna del Cardellino, and such others, have not had considerable religious influence on certain ...

— The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3) • John Ruskin

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