American Heritage:

v. ca·reened, ca·reen·ing, ca·reens
v. intr.


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.
v. tr. 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).
n. Nautical


The act or process of careening a ship.

The position of a careened ship.


(Also offers that originally the term came from carène, (on) the keel, from Old French carene, from Old Italian carena, from Latin carna)

Religion is even more complicated than language, however.

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