I.
transitive verb
1.
a.
< sent with broom before to sweep the dust behind the door — Shakespeare >
< swept the crumbs from the table >
b.
< the grain swept down by the reapers >
c.
< everything she loved, everything she cherished, might be swept away overnight — Louis Bromfield >
d.
< swept the books off the desk >
< swept the curtains aside >
< as the train passes the net sweeps the pouch from the arm — F.H.Briant >
: drive or carry away forcibly
< swept him away into a far corner of the hall — W.J.Locke >
e.
< the boy and the girl had been swept well out of his reach and were bobbing along — Charles Price >
< a wave of protest that swept the opposition into office >
2.
a.
< sweep the floor >
< sweep the street >
< sweep out the kitchen >
b.
c.
< artillery placed to sweep the whole field >
d.
< a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight — Matthew Arnold >
< fire swept the business district — American Guide Series: Maryland >
< bucking heavy seas that swept the deck — Walter Hayward >
e.
(1)
< a great wave of fear swept the country >
< archery, croquet, roller skating and then lawn tennis swept the country — F.R.Dulles >
(2)
< the team swept the series >
< the crew swept the river >
(3)
< swept the elections >
3.
< a fine mesh net narrowing … to the mouth of a glass tube into which the organisms are swept — W.H.Dowdeswell >
< swept the two groups together — Elmer Davis >
: gather in
< sweep his winnings into his pocket >
4.
a.
< his fingers swept the strings of the guitar >
< the innkeeper bowed so that his skirt swept the floor — Nora Waln >
b.
< the active areas may emit streams that sweep the earth with each rotation of the sun — C.T.Elvey >
< broad rolling open heights, swept by clean mountain winds — American Guide Series: Vermont >
c.
< swept the river with a dragnet >
d.
e.
< swept the channel >
5.
a. archaic
< swept the prettiest little curtsy ever seen — W.M.Thackeray >
b.
c.
< swept the sky with his binoculars — K.M.Dodson >
< his keen dark eyes swept the room — Robert Brennan >
d.
< swept the binoculars slowly from right to left, from left to right — Fred Majdalany >
6.
a. archaic
< like a peacock sweep along his tail — Shakespeare >
b.
< swept his brush across the canvas >
< swept her fingers over the strings of the harp >
7.
8.
< sweeping a wail from his instrument — Katharine N. Burt >
9.
intransitive verb
1.
a.
< a new broom sweeps clean >
b.
< a hurricane swept over the island, razing all the buildings — American Guide Series: Louisiana >
< a thin and watery beam of light swept across the dewy grass — Robertson Davies >
< such rage and despair had swept over her as she had never before known — F.M.Ford >
: go, pass, or move swiftly or forcefully
< she swept to her feet like a dancer — Paul Roche >
< when the front doors were opened, the children swept in — N.Y.Times >
2.
< his formidable wife swept past him to greet us — Maurice Cranston >
3.
< heard the trailing garments of the night sweep through her marble halls — H.W.Longfellow >
4.
a.
< our frantic horses swept round an angle of the road — Thomas De Quincey >
< when the sun sweeps across the sky at the lowest altitude — S.M.Spencer >
b.
< her penciled eyebrows sweep in wide arcs over her long-lashed eyes — Jossleyn Hennessy >
< brush-covered rangelands sweep to distant horizons — American Guide Series: Texas >
5.
•
- sweep one off one's feet
- sweep the board
II.
1.
a.
b.
c.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
d.
e.
(1)
(2)
f.
2.
a.
< giving the room a good sweep >
< a clean sweep of all the holdovers from the old administration >
b.
c.
< could distinguish no landslides, no sweep in favor of either party — Christopher Serpell >
d.
(1)
< their sweep of this crucial series clinched the pennant for them >
(2)
< another week saw her complete a sweep of the sport's three highest titles — Current Biography >
< made a surprising clean sweep of all the delegates — Current History >
e.
< there were full-dress artillery and aerial sweeps all day and night — Irwin Shaw >
< patrol ships dispersed enemy small craft in inshore sweeps — N.Y.Times >
f.
3.
a.
< is entirely open to the unobstructed sweep of waves — P.E.James >
< caught the full sweep of a rising southeast wind that dotted the lake with whitecaps — Joseph Millard >
< the slow sweep of a glacier — Douglas Stewart >
b.
< the great sweeps of western migration — Russell Lord >
< the sweep of economic evolution seems at first sight to have passed the professions by — R.M.MacIver >
< the symphony has passages of sweep and power >
c.
(1)
< the lemon-and-white pointer went off on great sweeps that settled the question about her running — Newsweek >
< the impatient sweep of a hand — R.G.Thomas >
(2)
(3)
d.
< the whole area lay within the sweep of the telescope >
< was interested in the whole sweep of cultural history — R.B.West >
e.
< a vast sweep of sage and mesquite, dotted with dozens of kinds of cactus — American Guide Series: Texas >
< a majestic sweep of flesh on either side of a small blunt nose — William Faulkner >
f.
4.
< the sweep of the arch >
< the sweep of the draperies >
as
a.
(1)
< the entire front is a sweep of large glass panes — Ford Times >
(2)
b.
< the driver took the gravel sweep magnificently and turned off out the gate — Elizabeth Bowen >
c.
5.
< when some walls and floors were dismantled during renovations, approximately $67,000 in gold sweeps was recovered — F.W.Taber >
6.
7.
8.
9.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Synonyms: see range
[III.
IV.
1.
2.