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Sweep   /swip/   Listen
noun
Sweep  n.  
1.
The act of sweeping.
2.
The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep.
3.
The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.
4.
The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away everything within its sweep.
5.
Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease.
6.
Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the sweep of a compass.
7.
Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the like, away from a rectlinear line. "The road which makes a small sweep."
8.
One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney sweeper.
9.
(Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam molding.
10.
(Naut.)
(a)
The mold of a ship when she begins to curve in at the rungheads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of a circle.
(b)
A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
11.
(Refining) The almond furnace. (Obs.)
12.
A long pole, or piece of timber, moved on a horizontal fulcrum fixed to a tall post and used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water. (Variously written swape, sweep, swepe, and swipe)
13.
(Card Playing) In the game of casino, a pairing or combining of all the cards on the board, and so removing them all; in whist, the winning of all the tricks (thirteen) in a hand; a slam.
14.
pl. The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
Sweep net, a net for drawing over a large compass.
Sweep of the tiller (Naut.), a circular frame on which the tiller traverses.


verb
Sweep  v. t.  (past & past part. swept; pres. part. sweeping)  
1.
To pass a broom across (a surface) so as to remove loose dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney. Used also figuratively. "I will sweep it with the besom of destruction."
2.
To drive or carry along or off with a broom or a brush, or as if with a broom; to remove by, or as if by, brushing; as, to sweep dirt from a floor; the wind sweeps the snow from the hills; a freshet sweeps away a dam, timber, or rubbish; a pestilence sweeps off multitudes. "The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies." "I have already swept the stakes."
3.
To brush against or over; to rub lightly along. "Their long descending train, With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain."
4.
To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion. "And like a peacock sweep along his tail."
5.
To strike with a long stroke. "Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre."
6.
(Naut.) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net.
7.
To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope.
To sweep a mold or To sweep up a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.


Sweep  v. i.  (past & past part. swept; pres. part. sweeping)  
1.
To clean rooms, yards, etc., or to clear away dust, dirt, litter, etc., with a broom, brush, or the like.
2.
To brush swiftly over the surface of anything; to pass with switness and force, as if brushing the surface of anything; to move in a stately manner; as, the wind sweeps across the plain; a woman sweeps through a drawing-room.
3.
To pass over anything comprehensively; to range through with rapidity; as, his eye sweeps through space.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Sweep" Quotes from Famous Books



... the last twenty-four hours, and I hurried up to join him. He was pointing with his stick at a large black object that lay half in the water and half on the sand. It appeared to be caught by some twisted willow roots so that the river could not sweep it away. A few hours before the spot must have ...
— The Willows • Algernon Blackwood
... da Gama, opened the sea-gates to the Indies. With four tiny ships he set sail from Lisbon in July, 1497 A.D., and after leaving the Cape Verde Islands made a wide sweep into the South Atlantic. Five months passed before Africa was seen again. Having doubled the Cape of Good Hope in safety, Da Gama skirted the eastern shores of Africa and at length secured the services of a Moslem ...
— EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY • HUTTON WEBSTER
... farm of its kind with four hundred sheep, seven cows, two horses, a goat or two and poultry. When the little old woman with a face like a nut was alive she could see the whole tack at one sweep of the eye from the rowan at the door, on the left up to the plateau where five burns were born, on the right to the peak of Drimfern. A pleasant place for meditation, bleak in winter for the want of trees, but in other seasons in ...
— Gilian The Dreamer - His Fancy, His Love and Adventure • Neil Munro
... nurse named Madam Rousseau, and had taken at Montmorency a little apartment to pass the summers there. They did everything for themselves, and had neither a servant nor runner; each had his turn weekly to purchase provisions, do the business of the kitchen, and sweep the house. They managed tolerably well, and we sometimes ate with each other. I know not for what reason they gave themselves any concern about me: for my part, my only motive for beginning an acquaintance with them was their playing at chess, and to make a poor little party I suffered four hours' ...
— The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, Complete • Jean Jacques Rousseau
... more novelty in the sentiments, a greater sweep of subjects, and a finer sense of moral beauty displayed by Mr. Tupper, than we remember to have seen in any work of its class, excepting of course the 'Proverbs of Solomon.' We also discover in his 'Philosophy' the stores of extensive ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper


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