Is it "the bus careened across..." or "the bus careered across..."

[WestleyAndButtockUp]

"The bus careened across the busy square"

For some reason I believe the verb to be "careen" and that most people use "career" in error.

But I'm really not sure, especially as I haven't seen anyone use "careen" for years.

I thought you could use both. One means swerve and one means went out of control I think?

Huh. Interesting.

Either, but the phrase generally uses 'careered' as you say.

Career is a word derived from the Latin 'to run' which is something like currere I think.

That's why it is used for a long term job situation thing...you are 'running' through your working life on a certain course.

Careening is a word I never really encountered in my education and always felt a bit huffy about. No idea what it means but sounds v journalistic.

I've never heard 'careen' used in this context, only 'career'.

Definition of CAREEN
transitive verb
1: to put (a ship or boat) on a beach especially in order to clean, caulk, or repair the hull
2: to cause to heel over
intransitive verb
1a : to careen a boat b : to undergo this process
2: to heel over
3: to sway from side to side : lurch

4: career

So 'careen' could be used simply as an alternative to the more usual 'career', but might be used to add extra meaning when there's tipping involved. Buses 'careen' in cartoons but hopefully not too much IRL

Don't know where you got your definition, Gimma, but number 4 on your list does seem to indicate that they are interchangeable. And number 3 suggests exactly what I've always thought of it as.

Mirriam-Webster - its American (tend to use it because I work for a US company)

Other dictionaries have similar definitions.
Looking at my Oxford dic, the primary definition is 1 ; the 'swaying' thing is listed as US. I think I've only come across it in the boat-cleaning sense, so suspect that the meaning you're using is a largely American extension/conflation with 'career'.

So my instinctive feeling that 'careened' is correct, comes from my reading of US books, not British ones?

That's my guess.