sweep
SWEEP, v.t. pret. and pp. swept.
1. To brush or rub over with a brush, broom or besom, for removing loose dirt; to clean by brushing; as, to sweep a chimney or a floor. When we say, to sweep a room, we mean, to sweep the floor of the room; and to sweep the house, is to sweep the floors of the house.
2. To carry with a long swinging or dragging motion; to carry with pomp.
And like a peacock, sweep along his tail.
3. To drive or carry along or off by a long brushing stroke or force, or by flowing on the earth. Thus the wind sweeps the snow from the tops of the hills; a river sweeps away a dam, timber or rubbish; a flood sweeps away a bridge or a house. Hence,
4. To drive, destroy or carry off many at a stroke, or with celerity and violence; as, a pestilence sweeps off multitudes in a few days. The conflagration swept away whole streets of houses.
I have already swept the stakes.
5. To rub over.
Their long descending train,
With rubies edgd and sapphires, swept the plain.
6. To strike with a long stroke.
Wake into voice each silent string,
And sweep the sounding lyre.
7. To draw or drag over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net, or with the bight of a rope, to hook an anchor.
SWEEP, v.i. To pass with swiftness and violence, as something broad or brushing the surface of any thing; as a sweeping rain; a sweeping flood. A fowl that flies near the surface of land or water, is said to sweep along near the surface.
1. To pass over or brush along with celerity and force; as, the wind sweeps along the plain.
2. To pass with pomp; as, a person sweeps along with a trail.
She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies.
3. To move with a long reach; as a sweeping stroke.
SWEEP, n. The act of sweeping.
1. The compass of a stroke; as a long sweep.
2. The compass of any turning body or motion; as the sweep of a door.
3. The compass of any thing flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away every thing within its sweep.
4. Violent and general destruction; as the sweep of an epidemic disease.
5. Direction of any motion not rectilinear; as the sweep of a compass.
6. The mold of a ship when she begins to compass in, at the rung heads; also, any part of a ship shaped by the segment of a circle; as a floor-sweep; a back-sweep, &c.
7. Among refiners of metals, the almost-furnace.
8. Among seamen, a large oar, used to assist the rudder in turning a ship in a calm, or to increase her velocity in a chase, &c.
Sweep of the tiller, a circular frame on which the tiller traverses in large ships.
sweeping
SWEEPING, ppr. Brushing over; rubbing with a broom or besom; cleaning with a broom or besom; brushing along; passing over; dragging over.
sweepings
SWEEPINGS, n. plu. Things collected by sweeping; rubbish. The sweepings of streets are often used as manure.