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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Sweep

Sweep, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. SWEPT; p. pr. & vb. n. SWEEPING.] [A-S. swāpan, O. Fries. swēpa, L. Ger. swēpen, swipen, H. Ger. schweifen, Icel. & Sw. sopa, Goth. sweipan.]

  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.
  2. To drive or carry along or off by a long, brushing stroke or force, or by flowing on the earth; as, 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.
  3. 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.

I have already swept the stakes. Dryden. 4. To move over in strides or with a train. Their long descending train, With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain. Dryden. 5. To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; to carry with pomp. And, like a peacock, sweep along his tail. Shak. 6. To strike with a long stroke. Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre. Pope.

  1. (Naut.) 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.
  2. To observe rapidly, as parts of a surface; to pass rapidly over, as with the eye or other instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope.

To sweep a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a template, instead of compressing it around a pattern.

Sweep, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To pass with swiftness and violence, as something broad, or brushing the surface of any thing; as, a sweeping rain; a sweeping flood.

  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. Shak.

  1. To move with a long reach; as, a sweeping stroke.
  2. To include or comprehend many individuals or particulars in a single act or assertion; as, a sweeping declaration, charge, and the like.

Sweep, n.

noun

n. 1. The act of sweeping. 2. The compass of a stroke; as, a long sweep. 3. The compass of any turning body or motion; as, the sweep of a door. 4. The compass of any thing flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away every thing within its sweep. 5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease. 6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectilinear; as, the sweep of a compass. 7. The direction or compass of a curve, as of a road, an arch, and the like. “The road which makes a small sweep.” W. Scott. 8. One who sweeps; a sweeper. 9. (Founding.) A movable template for making molds, in loam-molding. 10. (Naut.) (a.) The mold of a ship when she begins to compass in at the rung-heads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of a circle. (b.) A large oar, used in small vessels, to impel them during a calm, or to increase their speed during a chase. Totten.

  1. (Refining.) The almond furnace. [Obs.]
  2. The pole or piece of timber moved on a fulcrum or post, used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water. [Variously written swape, sweep, swepe, and swipe.]

Sweep of the tiller (Naut.), a circular frame on which the tiller traverses in large ships.