sweep

present singular third person sweeps · participle present sweeping · participle past swept · past swept

1. transitiveTo clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.

   to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney

   1 more example

   I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 14:23

2. intransitiveTo move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.

   The wind sweeps across the plain.

   2 more examples

   The offended countess swept out of the ballroom.

   [H]as the course of the argument so accustomed you to agreeing that you were swept by it into a ready assent?

   2005, Lesley Brown, Sophist, translation of original by Plato, page 236d

   Synonyms: swing

3. transitiveTo search (a place) methodically.
4. figurativelyintransitiveTo travel quickly.

   They've swept to power with an overwhelming majority.

   2 more examples

   Drifting thus, we made fast time down the bank through Cove Bay, and at 72 m.p.h. came sweeping round the curve past Girdleness light house, and so to the first sight of Aberdeen itself.

   1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9

   Everton took that disputed lead in a moment that caused anger to sweep around the Emirates.

   2011 February 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 2-1 Everton”, in BBC

5. ball gamesTo play a sweep shot.
6. ball gamesTo brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.
7. ergativetransitiveTo move something in a long sweeping motion, as a broom.
8. transitivehobbiesTo win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
9. transitivehobbiesTo defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
10. governmentTo clear (a body of water or part thereof) of mines.

    The channel was swept twice before the battlefleet proceeded through it.

11. transitiveTo remove something abruptly and thoroughly.

    The wind sweeps the snow from the hills.

    3 more examples

    She swept the peelings off the table onto the floor.

    The flooded river swept away the wooden dam.

    In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

    2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6

12. To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.

    Their long descending train, / With rubies edg'd and sapphires, swept the plain.

    1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

    1 more example

    Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

    1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN

13. 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.

    1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

14. To strike with a long stroke.

    Deſcend ye nine! deſcend and ſing; / The breathing inſtruments inſpire, / VVake into voice each ſilent ſtring, / And ſvveep the ſounding lyre!

    1687 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, canto I, page 371

15. hobbiesTo row with one oar to either the port or starboard side.
16. nauticalTo draw or drag something over.

    to sweep the bottom of a river with a net

17. To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.

    to sweep the heavens with a telescope

    1 more example

    O5-8 does an impressive job of controlling himself, keeping his attention focused on Marion. Clay doesn't fare so well, and quickly sweeps the whole room, even checking behind his back. Making an ass of himself, essentially. He finds nothing. He looks baffled.

    2008–2021, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 13

18. PennsylvaniaWesternOhio; Indiana; Ohio; IndianaTo vacuum a carpet or rug.

plural sweeps

1. A single action of sweeping.

   Give the front steps a quick sweep to get rid of those fallen leaves.

2. The person who steers a dragon boat.
3. A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
4. A chimney sweep.

   He was, perhaps, the English railwayman's conception of the French mécanicien - short and broad, black as a sweep even before we left Calais (but no blacker than I was on arrival at Paris) and wearing goggles and his uniform cap back to front.

   1961 February, Balmore [pseudonym], “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives - Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 112

5. A methodical search, typically for bugs (electronic listening devices).
6. ball gamesA batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.

   Bradman attempted a sweep, but in fact top edged the ball to the wicket keeper

7. A lottery, usually on the results of a sporting event, where players win if their randomly chosen team wins.

   Jim will win fifty dollars in the office sweep if Japan wins the World Cup.

8. A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.
9. aeronauticsThe degree to which an aircraft's wings are angled backwards (or, occasionally, forwards) from their attachments to the fuselage.

   The MiG-17's inner wing has 45 degrees of sweep.

10. governmentA throw or takedown that primarily uses the legs to attack an opponent's legs.
11. Violent and general destruction.

    the sweep of an epidemic disease

12. artsA movable template for making moulds, in loam moulding.
13. card gamesIn the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.
14. The compass of any turning body or of any motion.

    the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye

15. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.

    the road which makes a small sweep

    1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

16. A large oar situated at the stern in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.

    Again they changed positions and George was clutching the sweep while his father got the lance ready for’ard.

    1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 36

    1 more example

    I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner up to the head of the creek there, from which point we can command the pile of sandal-wood with our gun.

    1857 December, R[obert]. M[ichael]. Ballantyne, The Coral Island, page 258

17. attributivehobbiesA rowing style in which each rower rows with oar on either the port or starboard side.

    I am primarily a sweep rower.

18. obsoleterefiningThe almond furnace.
19. 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.
20. Any of the blades of a windmill.
21. in pluralThe sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
22. Any of several sea chubs in the family Kyphosidae (subfamily Scorpidinae).

    Octopus clambered about from hole to hole and startled sweep blurred away as we passed.

    1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador, published 2014, page 28

23. An expanse or a swath, a strip of land.

    The Himalaya guards the southern rim of the plateau in one continuous sweep of 2250 km, each end marked by a massive mountain, Nanga Parbat on the Indus in the west and Namjagbarwa at the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo in the east.

    1998, George B. Schaller, Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 21

24. USsingularbroadcastingsingular of sweeps (“viewership ratings”)

    A proposal to redistribute the diaries used in sweeps to provide a 4-week "buyer report" earlier than the normal November sweep followed by three quarterly reports was not welcomed […]

    1988, Hugh Malcolm Beville, Audience Ratings: Radio, Television, and Cable, page 230

25. USpossiblyregionalThe act of police removing a homeless encampment from a public space.

    “There’s no new version of sweeps or a better version of sweeps,” said Marcus Moore, who was street homeless prior to the pandemic and is now an organizer with Safety Net Activists.