De`vi*a"tion (?), n.
[LL. deviatio: cf. F. déviation.]
1. The act of
deviating; a wandering from the way;
variation from the common way, from an
established rule, etc.; departure, as from the right course or the path of duty.
2. The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense.
2. (Com.) The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the
specific voyage insured,
thus releasing the underwriters
from their responsibility.
Deviation of a falling body (Physics),
that deviation from a strictly vertical line of descent which occurs in a body falling freely, in consequence of the rotation of the earth. -- Deviation of the compass, the angle which the needle of a ship's compass makes with the magnetic meridian by reason of the
magnetism of the iron parts of the ship. -- Deviation of the line of the vertical, the difference between the actual direction of a plumb line
and the direction it would have if
the earth were a perfect ellipsoid and homogeneous, -- caused
by the attraction of a mountain, or irregularities in the earth's density.
Hear it pronounced