sweep

From Dutch zweep, from Middle Dutch swepe.


sweep

to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney

I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.

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

(transitive) To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.

The wind sweeps across the plain.

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:

(intransitive) To move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.

(transitive) To search (a place) methodically.

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:

(intransitive, figuratively) To travel quickly.

(curling) To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.

(transitive, ergative) To move something in a long sweeping motion, as a broom.

(sports, transitive) To win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.

(sports, transitive) To defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.

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

(military) To clear (a body of water or part thereof) of mines.

She swept the peelings off the table onto the floor.

The wind sweeps the snow from the hills.

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:

(transitive) To remove something abruptly and thoroughly.

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:

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:

To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.

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]:

To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.

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:

(rowing) To row with one oar to either the port or starboard side.

to sweep the bottom of a river with a net

(nautical) To draw or drag something over.

to sweep the heavens with a telescope

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:

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

(Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana) To vacuum a carpet or rug.

en-verb

sweep (third-person singular simple present sweeps, present participle sweeping, simple past and past participle swept)

sweeps (present singular third-person)
sweeping (participle present)
swept (participle past)
swept (past)

pyyhkäistä

to move through an arc or similar long stroke

voittaa puhtaasti

sports: to win a series without loss or draw

voittaa puhtaasti

sports: to defeat a team without loss or draw

прочиствам

to remove something abruptly and thoroughly

pyyhkiä

to brush against or over; to rub lightly along

heiluttaa

to carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion

pyyhkiä

nautical: to draw or drag something over

pyyhkäistä

to pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation

From Middle English swepen, from Proto-West Germanic *swaipijan (unattested in Old English), from Proto-Germanic *swaipijaną. Cognate with Early Modern West Frisian swiepe (“whip, cleanse, sweep”), from Old Frisian swēpa, suepa (“sweep”). More distantly related to Old Norse sveipa (whence Swedish svepa). See also swoop.


sweep

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

A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.

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:

A methodical search, typically for bugs (electronic listening devices).

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

(cricket) A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.

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

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

A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.

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

(aviation) The degree to which an aircraft's wings are angled backwards (or, occasionally, forwards) from their attachments to the fuselage.

(martial arts) A throw or takedown that primarily uses the legs to attack an opponent's legs.

the sweep of an epidemic disease

(metalworking) A movable template for making moulds, in loam moulding.

(card games) In the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.

the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye

The compass of any turning body or of any motion.

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:

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

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.

A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.

I am primarily a sweep rower.

(rowing, attributive) A rowing style in which each rower rows with oar on either the port or starboard side.

(refining, obsolete) The almond furnace.

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.

(in the plural) The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.

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:

Any of several sea chubs in the family Kyphosidae (subfamily Scorpidinae).

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:

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:

(US, television) singular of sweeps (“viewership ratings”)

mökki

casino: act of capturing all face-up cards from the table

извиване

direction or departure from rectilinear line

airo

large oar used to propel and steer small vessels

vipupu

long pole to raise and lower a bucket in a well


sweep

(electric guitar) sweep (arpeggio played with a single movement of the picking hand)