Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: Old French
Origin: divertir, from Latin divertere, from vertere 'to turn'

divert

 verb
     
Related topics: Leisure
di‧vert [transitive]
1 to change the use of something such as time or money
divert something into/to/(away) from etc something
The company should divert more resources into research.
Officials diverted revenue from arms sales to the rebels.
2 to change the direction in which something travels
divert a river/footpath/road etc
Canals divert water from the Truckee River into the lake.
The high street is closed and traffic is being diverted.
3 if you divert your telephone calls, you arrange for them to go directly to another number, for example because you are not able to answer them yourself for some time:
Remember to divert your phone when you are out of the office.
4 to deliberately take someone's attention from something by making them think about or notice other things
divert (somebody's) attention (away from somebody/something)
The crime crackdown is an attempt to divert attention from social problems.
He'd been trying to divert suspicion away from himself.
5 formalDL to amuse or entertain someone
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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