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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



... his tobacco pipe and made the three doomed ones sit with him in the path to smoke the peace-whiff all around, we picked out each his man and smote to slay. The scythe-like sweep of Jennifer's mighty claymore left the five-feathered chieftain the shorter by a head in the same pulse-beat that the Ferara scanted a second of the breath to yell with; though now I recall it, the gurgling death-cry of the poor wretch with the steel in ...
— The Master of Appleby • Francis Lynde
... taxation on the other; thus placing the two great sections of the country in direct conflict in reference to its fiscal action, and thereby letting in that flood of political corruption which threatens to sweep away our ...
— Remarks of Mr. Calhoun of South Carolina on the bill to prevent the interference of certain federal officers in elections: delivered in the Senate of the United States February 22, 1839 • John C. Calhoun
... Against the grey, ghostly light of the window he could see Christine bowed over her typewriter. She was so still that she frightened him. All the terrors of night which lay in wait for him ever since his fathers dead hand had touched his door and opened it, rushed down upon him with a sweep of black, smothering wings. He called out "Christine! Christine!" in a choked voice, and she moved at once, and he saw her ...
— The Dark House • I. A. R. Wylie
... worse when Chance is away. Look at those bits of paper littering the place,' he went on fussily. 'Now I know that those men have been told thousands of times not to let things fly about like that. But it saves them trouble when they clean a room to sweep everything out of doors and then leave it ...
— Peter and Jane - or The Missing Heir • S. (Sarah) Macnaughtan
... himself, but took his sabre in both hands and rushed furiously on his antagonist, resolved to kill him, if he had to lose his own life. Philippe received a sabre-cut which slashed open his forehead and a part of his face, but he cleft Max's head obliquely by the terrible sweep of a "moulinet," made to break the force of the annihilating stroke Max aimed at him. These two savage blows ended the combat, at the ninth minute. Fario came down to gloat over the sight of his enemy in the convulsions of death; for the muscles of a man of Maxence Gilet's vigor quiver horribly. ...
— The Two Brothers • Honore de Balzac


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