Sweep

sweep
    n 1: a wide scope; "the sweep of the plains" [syn: {sweep},
         {expanse}]
    2: someone who cleans soot from chimneys [syn: {chimneysweeper},
       {chimneysweep}, {sweep}]
    3: winning all or all but one of the tricks in bridge [syn:
       {slam}, {sweep}]
    4: a long oar used in an open boat [syn: {sweep}, {sweep oar}]
    5: (American football) an attempt to advance the ball by running
       around the end of the line [syn: {end run}, {sweep}]
    6: a movement in an arc; "a sweep of his arm"
    v 1: sweep across or over; "Her long skirt brushed the floor";
         "A gasp swept cross the audience" [syn: {brush}, {sweep}]
    2: move with sweeping, effortless, gliding motions; "The diva
       swept into the room"; "Shreds of paper sailed through the
       air"; "The searchlights swept across the sky" [syn: {sweep},
       {sail}]
    3: sweep with a broom or as if with a broom; "Sweep the crumbs
       off the table"; "Sweep under the bed" [syn: {sweep}, {broom}]
    4: force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of
       action; "They were swept up by the events"; "don't drag me
       into this business" [syn: {embroil}, {tangle}, {sweep},
       {sweep up}, {drag}, {drag in}]
    5: to cover or extend over an area or time period; "Rivers
       traverse the valley floor", "The parking lot spans 3 acres";
       "The novel spans three centuries" [syn: {cross}, {traverse},
       {span}, {sweep}]
    6: clean by sweeping; "Please sweep the floor"
    7: win an overwhelming victory in or on; "Her new show dog swept
       all championships"
    8: cover the entire range of
    9: make a big sweeping gesture or movement [syn: {swing},
       {sweep}, {swing out}]
    

Sweep \Sweep\, v. i.
   1. To clean rooms, yards, etc., or to clear away dust, dirt,
      litter, etc., with a broom, brush, or the like.
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   2. To brush swiftly over the surface of anything; to pass
      with switness and force, as if brushing the surface of
      anything; to move in a stately manner; as, the wind sweeps
      across the plain; a woman sweeps through a drawing-room.
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   3. To pass over anything comprehensively; to range through
      with rapidity; as, his eye sweeps through space.
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Sweep \Sweep\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Swept}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Sweeping}.] [OE. swepen; akin to AS. sw[=a]pan. See {Swoop},
   v. i.]
   1. To pass a broom across (a surface) so as to remove loose
      dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for
      the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street,
      or a chimney. Used also figuratively.
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            I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
                                                  --Isa. xiv.
                                                  23.
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   2. To drive or carry along or off with a broom or a brush, or
      as if with a broom; to remove by, or as if by, brushing;
      as, to sweep dirt from a floor; the wind sweeps the snow
      from the hills; a freshet sweeps away a dam, timber, or
      rubbish; a pestilence sweeps off multitudes.
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            The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies. --Isa.
                                                  xxviii. 17.
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            I have already swept the stakes.      --Dryden.
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   3. To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
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            Their long descending train,
            With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence,
      to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
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            And like a peacock sweep along his tail. --Shak.
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   5. To strike with a long stroke.
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            Wake into voice each silent string,
            And sweep the sounding lyre.          --Pope.
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   6. (Naut.) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the
      bottom of a river with a net.
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   7. To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an
      instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a
      telescope.
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   {To sweep a mold} or {To sweep up a mold} (Founding), to form
      the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing
      it around the pattern.
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Sweep \Sweep\, n.
   1. The act of sweeping.
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   2. The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep.
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   3. The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the
      sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.
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   4. The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood
      carried away everything within its sweep.
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   5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an
      epidemic disease.
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   6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the
      sweep of a compass.
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   7. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the
      like, away from a rectlinear line.
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            The road which makes a small sweep.   --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   8. One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney
      sweeper.
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   9. (Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam
      molding.
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   10. (Naut.)
       (a) The mold of a ship when she begins to curve in at the
           rungheads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of
           a circle.
       (b) A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel
           them and partly to steer them.
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   11. (Refining) The almond furnace. [Obs.]
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   12. 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. [Variously written
       {swape}, {sweep}, {swepe}, and {swipe}.]
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   13. (Card Playing) In the game of casino, a pairing or
       combining of all the cards on the board, and so removing
       them all; in whist, the winning of all the tricks
       (thirteen) in a hand; a slam.
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   14. pl. The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are
       worked, containing filings, etc.
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   {Sweep net}, a net for drawing over a large compass.

   {Sweep of the tiller} (Naut.), a circular frame on which the
      tiller traverses.
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435 Moby Thesaurus words for "sweep":
      Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, S-curve, aberrancy,
      aberration, advance, airscape, ambit, arc, arch, ball the jack,
      barrel, be effortless, be painless, bend, bend back, bending, bias,
      bingo, boom, bow, bowing, bowl, bowl along, branching off, breeze,
      breeze along, broom, brush, brush by, brush off, bunt, butt, carry,
      cascade, cataract, chase, chimney sweep, circle, circuitousness,
      cityscape, class lottery, clean, cleanser, clear, clear sight,
      clearance, clip, cloudscape, coast, coasting, color vision,
      compass, cone vision, conflexure, corner, course, cover, crook,
      crossing sweeper, curl, curvature, curve, cut along, dash,
      day vision, daylight vision, declination, decurve, deflect,
      deflection, deluge, demolish, departure, depredate, despoil,
      destroy, detour, deviance, deviancy, deviation, deviousness,
      diapason, digression, discernment, discursion, divagation,
      divarication, divergence, diversion, do, dogleg, dome, double,
      draft lottery, drawing, drift, drifting, drive, embow, encompass,
      engulf, environ, errantry, excursion, excursus, exorbitation,
      extend, extension, extent, eye, eye-mindedness, eyesight, farsight,
      farsightedness, field of view, field of vision, flat race,
      flection, fleece, fleet, flex, flexure, flit, flood, flounce, flow,
      flowing, flue cleaner, fly, fly low, foot, forage, foray, forward,
      freeboot, gamut, geanticline, geosyncline, give no trouble, glance,
      glide, gliding, glissade, go, go easily, go fast,
      go like clockwork, go out, go over, grab bag, graze, gut, hairpin,
      hairpin turn, handicap, handicap race, harness race, highball,
      hold, home on, hook, horizon, horse race, hump, hunch, hurdle race,
      ice-skate, identify, impel, incurvate, incurve, indirection,
      inflect, inflection, interest lottery, inundate, keen sight, ken,
      keno, kiss, landscape, lie, lookout, loop, loot, lottery, lotto,
      make knots, map, maraud, march, meander, measure, move,
      night vision, nip, number lottery, numbers pool, oar, obliquity,
      orbit, outlook, outstrip the wind, overbrim, overflow, overpass,
      overrun, overwhelm, oxbow, paddle, panorama, parade, pass,
      pass over, pass through, patrol, pedal, perambulate, perception,
      peregrinate, pererrate, pererration, peripheral field,
      peripheral vision, perspective, perspicacity, perspicuity,
      photopia, pick up, pillage, pinpoint, plate race, plunder, ply,
      pole, pour it on, pour out, pour over, power of sight,
      present no difficulties, prey on, propel, prospect, purge,
      purse race, purview, push, quarter-horse race, quick sight, radius,
      raffle, raid, rambling, range, range over, ransack, ravage, raven,
      ravish, reach, reach out, receive, reconnoiter, recurve, reflect,
      reflection, reflex, register, reive, remove, retroflex, rifle, rip,
      riverscape, rod vision, roll, roller-skate, round, row, run,
      run over, run smoothly, sack, sag, sail, sailing, scale, scan,
      scape, scavenger, scene, scenery, scenic view, scope, scorch,
      scotopia, scour, scour the country, scout, scrape, scull, seascape,
      seeing, sense of sight, sheer, shift, shifting, shifting course,
      shifting path, shove, shunt, sideslip, sight, sightedness, sizzle,
      skate, skateboard, skating, skew, ski, skid, skiing, skim,
      skyscape, slant, sled, sledding, sleigh, slide, sliding, slip,
      slipping, slither, slithering, slop, slosh, span, spectrum, speed,
      spill, spill out, spill over, spoil, spoliate, spot, spread, stake,
      stake race, steeplechase, steering oar, storm along, straddle,
      straying, street sweeper, stretch, stretch out, stroke, submerge,
      surround, swag, swamp, sweep along, sweep away, sweep out,
      sweep up, sweeper, sweeping, sweepstake, sweepstakes, swerve,
      swerving, swing, swinging, swoop, tack, take in, tear, tear along,
      thrust, thrust out, thunder along, tidy up, toboggan, tobogganing,
      tombola, tontine, touch lightly, touch upon, townscape, track,
      transit, travel over, travel through, traverse, treadle, trigger,
      troll, trotting race, trundle, tune in, turn, turning,
      twilight vision, twist, unobstructed vision, vacuum, vacuum-clean,
      variation, vault, veer, view, vision, vista, visual acuity,
      visual field, visual sense, voyage, wandering, warp, waterscape,
      whelm, whisk, whitewing, whiz, wind, wing, wipe out, work well,
      yaw, zigzag, zing, zip, zoom