sweep
IPA: swˈip
noun
- A single action of sweeping.
- The person who steers a dragon boat.
- A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
- A chimney sweep.
- A methodical search, typically for bugs (electronic listening devices).
- (cricket) A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.
- 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.
- (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.
- Violent and general destruction.
- (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 compass of any turning body or of any motion.
- Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.
- A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
- (rowing) 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.
- Any of the blades of a windmill.
- (in the plural) The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
- Any of several sea chubs in the family Kyphosidae (subfamily Scorpidinae).
- An expanse or a swath, a strip of land.
verb
- (transitive) To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.
- (intransitive) To move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.
- (transitive) To search (a place) methodically.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To travel quickly.
- (cricket) To play a sweep shot.
- (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.
- (military) To clear (a body of water or part thereof) of mines.
- (transitive) To remove something abruptly and thoroughly.
- To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
- To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
- To strike with a long stroke.
- (rowing) To row with one oar to either the port or starboard side.
- (nautical) To draw or drag something over.
- To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.
- (Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana) To vacuum a carpet or rug.
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Examples of "sweep" in Sentences
- I sweeped my room with a broom.
- The dirty one saw the other sweep.
- The Celtics ended up sweeping the Bucks.
- The sentence was sweeping and simplistic.
- The broom is used to sweep the ice surface.
- An incurable plague is sweeping the country.
- The clean sweep saw the other sweep was dirty.
- The critics called for sweeping changes to the team.
- The brushes sweep dirt and dust from the floor into the container.
- They scrub the terrace, sweep the halls and the stairs, clean the chimneys.