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an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training, followed as one’s lifework:
He sought a career as a lawyer.
a person’s progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking:
His career as a soldier ended with the armistice.
success in a profession, occupation, etc.
a course, especially a swift one.
speed, especially full speed:
The horse stumbled in full career.
Archaic. a charge at full speed.
to run or move rapidly along; go at full speed.
having or following a career; professional:
a career diplomat.
Contemporary Examples

Remember when we all thought Miley Cyrus careering head first towards rock bottom just because she twerked?
The Epic Justin Bieber Meltdown May Be the Most Worrisome One Yet Kevin Fallon January 22, 2014

Historical Examples

A few of the horses stood quietly beside their dead owners, the rest were careering wildly over the plain.
Redskin and Cow-Boy G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Away they went once more, careering through the gathering darkness.
Robert Falconer George MacDonald

In another temple monkeys are revered too, careering about the walls and courtyards and being fed by the curious and the devout.
Roving East and Roving West E. V. Lucas

For the poet is, on his monoplane, careering over the heart of Italy.
Modernities Horace Barnett Samuel

Black midnight came, and the careering tempest swept the deluged streets of Zempoalla, driving even the sentinels to seek shelter.
Hernando Cortez John S. C. Abbott

They were careering through the valley, all in a confused and disorderly band.
The Mosstrooper Robert Scott Fittis

Old Ali Atar was careering about the valley with his usual impatience, hurrying the march of the loitering troops.
Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada Washington Irving

He is careering about; I feel that I am trembling like a leaf.
Mr. Punch With Rod and Gun Various

careering about the place, dragging behind him a board to which he had been tied and was unable to dislodge.
Dorothy at Oak Knowe Evelyn Raymond

noun
a path or progress through life or history
a profession or occupation chosen as one’s life’s work
(modifier) having or following a career as specified: a career diplomat
a course or path, esp a swift or headlong one
verb
(intransitive) to move swiftly along; rush in an uncontrolled way
n.

1530s, “a running (usually at full speed), a course” (especially of the sun, etc., across the sky), from Middle French carriere “road, racecourse” (16c.), from Old Provençal or Italian carriera, from Vulgar Latin *(via) cararia “carriage (road), track for wheeled vehicles,” from Latin carrus “chariot” (see car). Sense of “course of a working life” first attested 1803.
v.

1590s, “to charge at a tournament,” from career (n.). The meaning “move rapidly, run at full speed” (1640s) is from the image of a horse “passing a career” on the jousting field, etc. Related: Careered; careering.
see: checkered career