sweep someone off their feet

verb

To seduce someone romantically.

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Meanings

verbsweep someone off their feet (third-person singular simple present sweeps someone off their feet, present participle sweeping someone off their feet, simple past and past participle swept someone off their feet)

present singular third person sweeps someone off their feet · participle present sweeping someone off their feet · participle past swept someone off their feet · past swept someone off their feet

  1. idiomaticTo seduce someone romantically.
  2. figurativelyTo overwhelm.

    Our conversation was short and sweet / It nearly swept me off-a my feet

    1975, Bob Dylan, “You're a Big Girl Now”, in Blood on the Tracks
    1 more example

    Am I capable of feeling as strongly as that? But I was absolutely unconscious! I hadn't a phrase to meet it with! I was overcome! I was swept off my feet! I didn't even try, in the dimmest way, to put it down!

    1918 February (date written), Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Je ne parle pas français”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 77
Cite this entry
APA

sweep someone off their feet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweep%20someone%20off%20their%20feet

MLA

“sweep someone off their feet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweep%20someone%20off%20their%20feet. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweep someone off their feet,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweep%20someone%20off%20their%20feet.

Source: sweep someone off their feet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.