To run or flow off course; to deviate from a normal path or expected direction.
From de- (away from) + course (a path or direction). 'Course' derives from Old French 'cours' and Latin 'cursus,' meaning a running or path. The prefix indicates movement away from the normal route.
This is an archaic word that painters and philosophers used—decourse appears in old texts to describe water running astray or thoughts wandering away from reason, making it poetically useful even though we rarely use it today.
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