[see SWEEP v. and sb.]

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  † 1.  Phrase. The cry of a chimney-sweeper. Obs.

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1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Cheminée, Haut & bas la cheminée, chimney-sweepe; the crie of chimney-sweepers.

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  2.  = CHIMNEY-SWEEPER 1. (Now also simply SWEEP.) Chimney-sweep’s cancer: see next, 1 b.

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1727.  Swift, Descr. Morning. The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep, Till drown’d in shriller notes of chimney-sweep.

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a. 1845.  Hood, Doves & Crows, iv. As fine as Chimney Sweeps in May.

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1888.  Sir M. Mackenzie, Fredk. the Noble, 41. A particular form of cancer … formerly … common enough in England, is now almost extinct … ‘chimney sweep’s cancer.’

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  3.  The name of a fly used in salmon-fishing.

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1867.  F. Francis, Angling, xii. (1880), 446. The Chimney Sweep … is the only thoroughly black fly I ever saw.

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