Forms: 4–6 swepe, 4–7 sweepe, 5 swep, 6 sweppe, swyp(e, Sc. sweip, 6–7, 9 dial. swip(e, 6– sweep. Pa. t. 4 swepid, sueped, swepte, 5 sweppit, 7 sweeped, 6– swept. Pa. pple. 4 sweped, sueped, -et, iswepid, squepid, 5 swyped, 6–8 sweeped, 7 sweept, 7–8 sweep’d; 5 yswepped, 5–6 swepte, 6– swept (9 dial. swep’, Sc. sweepit); str. 5 yswepe, sweppene. [ME. swepe (taking the place of the original SWOPE, OE. swápan, swéop, swápen), first recorded from northern texts; of uncertain origin. Two suggestions of source have been made, both of which involve phonological difficulties. (1) The mutated stem swǽp- (cf. ʓeswǽpa beside -ʓeswǽp sweepings, ymbswǽpe ‘ambages’). This would normally have produced a mod.Eng. *sweap, but in its transference from the northern to the southern area, swepe may have been assimilated to words like slepe (OE. Anglian slépan) to SLEEP, or crepe (OE. créopan) to CREEP, the process being perhaps assisted by the pa. t. swep-e (OE. swéop) of the original strong verb. (2) ON. svipa to move swiftly and suddenly. This etymology involves the assumption that ON. ĭ became ME. ē, which is not otherwise clearly authenticated, and that the intransitive sense (22) is the original.
The shortening of the stem-vowel in pa. t. and pa. pple. is shown in spellings c. 1400.
The order of sense-development presents difficulties, it being uncertain whether the transitive or intransitive meanings are the primary ones. The present arrangement of the word is adopted as convenient from the modern point of view, since the whole word is now colored by the meaning ‘cleanse or remove with a broom.’]
I. Senses with that which is removed or moved along as the object, and derived uses.
1. trans. To remove, clear away, off (etc.) with a broom or brush, or in a similar way by friction upon a surface; to brush away or off.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26672 (Cott.). I haue mi hert soght ilk a delle, And sueped [Fairf. squepid out] wel þat was þar-in. [After Psalm lxxvii. 6; cf. quot. a. 1300 in sense 13.]
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xiv. 23. I shal destroȝe Babyloynes name … I shal sweepen it in a besme.
1552. Huloet, Swepe away, euerro.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 158. Certen Cardinalles standing about him, whiche with foxes tayles tied to staues lyke besomes, sweepe all thinges vpsyde downe.
1579. in Archaeologia, LXIV. 357. For swipping and bearing rubbitch out of the hous.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 397. I am sent with broome before, To sweep the dust behinde the doore.
1650. W. D., trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 582. Sweepings and scraps are swept away with besoms.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., II. viii. 15. Another sweeps the fragments of the feast.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. The old lodge-keeper … was wanted at the Court to sweep away the leaves.
1902. R. Bagot, Donna Diana, xiii. 139. Leaving his housekeeper to clear away the empty plates and dishes and sweep the breadcrumbs off the wine-stained table cloth.
b. Curling. = SOOP v.3 Also absol.
1811. Acc. Game Curling, 44. A player may sweep his own stone the whole length of the rink; his party not to sweep until it has passed the hog-score at the farther end.
1910. Encycl. Brit., VII. 647 (Curling). No party except when sweeping according to rule, shall go upon the middle of the rink, or cross it.
2. To cut down or off with a vigorous swinging stroke. Now rare or Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2508. Now ferkes to þe fyrthe thees fresche mene of armes … In the myste mornynge one a mede falles,… In swathes sweppene downe, fulle of swete floures.
c. 1440. Capgrave, Life St. Kath., V. 1572. Thi owen wyues heed of þou dede sweepe.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., vi. I would rather you swept my head off with your long sword; it would better become my birth, than to die by the hands of such a foul churl.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, viii. The reapers sweeping down the brown corn.
3. To remove with a forcible continuous action; to brush off, away, aside.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 188 b. The mothes, if they appeare, must bee sweeped away.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 126. My hounds … their heads are hung With eares that sweepe away the morning dew.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 469. The Gouernour caused Areta … to gather and swipe the Vermine vpon me.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 449. The same diluvial agency … appears also to have swept off the superior strata from extensive tracts.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org. (1862), 17. The gases are to be swept out of the apparatus in the manner already described.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xxvii. Sweep the chessmen off the board.
1867. W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 64. The upper part of the series … has been swept away by denudation.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxviii. Leaning against the railing, she impatiently swept off the snowy lemon leaves.
1908. S. E. White, Riverman, ix. Miss Bishop turned to the piano, sweeping aside her white draperies as she sat. Ibid., xvii. She swept aside the portières.
4. transf. chiefly with adv. or advb. phr.: To clear out, drive away, or carry off from a place or region, (as if) forcibly or by violence. Also fig.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. vii. 13. Thus haue we swept Suspition from our Seate, And made our Footstoole of Security. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. i. 119. Though I could With bare-fac’d power sweepe him from my sight. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., V. iv. 13. Vnlesse we sweepe ’em from the dore with Cannons.
1645. Gataker, God’s Eye on Israel, 29. Who draw up whatsoever cometh to hand, with the hooke, and sweep all away hand over head, with their net.
1700. S. L., trans. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 67. Those that were still coming up … we swept down like a swarm of Bees, with our … Fire-arms.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Cl., 29 May. The tide of luxury has swept all the inhabitants from the open country.
1779. Mirror, No. 36, ¶ 2. When Xerxes … saw all his troops ranged in order before him, he burst into tears at the thought, that … they would be sweeped from the face of the earth.
1831. D. E. Williams, Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence, II. 257. A … storm … In its fury it had just swept away the pier at Ryde.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, II. i. Let us sweep, then, our past conference from our recollection.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, i. 13. Divil sweep you!
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. vi. (1857), 106. The Moslems … butchered the inhabitants, or swept them off into hopeless slavery.
1906. Alice Werner, Natives Brit. Centr. Afr., xii. 284. When the invaders retired, they … cultivated their gardens in the plains, but only to have their crops swept off by fresh raids.
5. Chiefly with away: To remove forcibly or as at one blow from its position or status, or out of existence: to do away with, destroy utterly.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Isa. xxviii. 17. The haile shal swepe away the vaine confidence. Ibid. (1611), Jer. xlvi. 15. Why are thy valiant men swept away?
1632. Sanderson, Serm., 316. When He … sweepeth away religious Princes, wise Senatours, zealous Magistrates.
1643. Howell, Twelve Treat. (1661), 238. The ragingst Plague that ever was in Spain … happen’d of late years, which sweep’d away such a world of people.
a. 1720. Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. Pref. p. xvi. These God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles.
1726. Pope, Odyss., XXIV. 134. Did the rage of stormy Neptune sweep Your lives at once, and whelm beneath the deep?
1833. Landor, Imag. Conv., P. Scipio Æmilianus, etc. Wks. 1846, II. 246/2. In one Olympiad the three greatest men that ever appeared together were swept off.
1847. L. Hunt, Men, Women, & Bks., II. viii. 158. The heart of man is constantly sweeping away the errors he gets into his brain.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 31. Long after Carthage and the Carthaginians had been swept away.
1878. Dale, Lect. Preach., iii. 83. In the early part of the third chapter the last hopes of the Jews are swept away.
6. To carry or drive along with force; to carry away or off by driving before it, as a wind, tide, stream, etc.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, I. vii. 24. The south wind often … Sweeps off the clouds.
1783. Crabbe, Village, I. 128. Till some fierce tide … Sweeps the low hut and all it holds away.
1813. Byron, Giaour, 18. If at times a transient breeze … sweep one blossom from the trees.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, ix. The tide was sweeping us past.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, v. He was swept, along with the mob in which he had been fast wedged, through a dark low passage.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, V. xx. I. 360. They might find the bridges shattered and swept away by the sudden spates of rushing streams.
fig. 1867. Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., xx. (1875), 303. The fury of the minority swept all before it.
b. To sweep off: to drink off, swallow down quickly. Obs. or dial.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 83. He sweeps off the lusheous Stuff [sc. lobscouse] as cleverly as a Dairy-Maid does her Butter.
1863. Mrs. Toogood, Yorksh. Dial. (MS.). Take the pint and sweep it off.
7. To drive together or into a place by or as by sweeping; to gather or take up, esp. so as to allocate or consign to a place, object, or purpose.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4947. Þan sal alle þe fire be sweped doune In-til helle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 385. The Mullok on an hoepe sweped [v.rr. yswoped, iswepid, yswepped] was.
1538. Elyot, Addit., Conuerro,… to swepe to gether into one place.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 394 b. Oure aduersaries … destroyinge the wealthe of the Empire, swepe all into theyr owne coffers.
1570. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 2), II. 926/2. The Dominicke Friers … so had sweapt all the fatte to their own beardes, from the order of the Franciscanes, that all the almes came to theyr boxe.
1652. Earl Monm., trans. Bentivoglio’s Hist. Relat., 63. The fire thereof was rather sweep’d up then quench’d by the twelve years Truce.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, an. 1646 (1879), I. 279. As if Nature had here swept up the rubbish of the earth in the Alpes to forme and cleere the plaines of Lombardy.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 68. He is sure to sweep fifty Pounds at least into his Pocket.
1861. Reade, Cloister & H., lxv. Her glorious eyes fringed with long thick silken eyelashes, that seemed made to sweep up sensitive hearts by the half dozen.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. § 2. 38. The heritage of many such being swept in a mass into the hands of some insatiable stranger.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, iii. Sybil swept her much-enduring instructress up to her room.
1900. Times, 25 July, 4/5. Any mass of weed or débris that comes down with the stream will be swept into the angle of one of these sudd traps.
1911. E. Rutherford, in Encycl. Brit., XXII. 794/1. If a sufficiently strong field is used, the ions are all swept to the electrodes before appreciable loss of their number can occur by recombination.
b. fig. To include in its scope; to extend to.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, lxxiii. 73. The Letter of the Law Sweeps All in such a Case, without Distinction of Persons.
1886. Sir J. Pearson, in Law Rep., 32 Chanc. Div. 47. The words of this clause sweep in, as far as I can see, every possible liability of the company.
8. To gather in or up, collect wholesale or at one stroke; esp. in phr. to sweep the stakes (cf. SWEEPSTAKE).
1635. Shirley, Traitor, V. i. Death’s a devouring gamester, And sweepes up all.
1672. Dryden, Conq. Granada, Heroique Plays, ad fin. I have already swept the stakes; and with the common good fortune of prosperous Gamesters, can be content to sit quietly. Ibid. (1693), Persius, III. 94. My Study was … To shun Ames-Ace, that swept my Stakes away.
1705. trans. Bosman’s Guinea, 90. A Portuguese or Interloper … by selling cheap, sweeps a great part, if not all their Gold.
1732. Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 71. If the stakes he sweep.
1907. Daily Chron., 7 June, 6/6. Sweepstakes are always swept by the man who does not want the money.
9. To carry or trail along in a stately manner, as a flowing garment.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. iii. 6. Let frantike Talbot triumph for a while, And like a Peacock sweepe along his tayle.
1798. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., II. 90. The self-named heiress … swept her long mourning robes through the whole train of sycophants, to an upper seat in the room.
10. To move or draw (something) over and in contact with a surface.
1825. Scott, Talism., xxvi. Again sweeping his fingers over the strings.
1894. Baring-Gould, Kitty Alone, II. 141. He swept the brush vigorously about, so as to disperse over the floor any particles.
11. To move (something) round with force and rapidity, or over a wide extent; to take off (one’s hat) with a sweep of the arm.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xiv. 217. He … ended the matter by sweeping round quickly our canoe, and capsized the other.
1867. Thomson & Tait, Nat. Phil., I. I. § 106. It is the case of a common spinning-top … sweeping its axis round in a cone whose axis is vertical.
1868. Whitman, Amer. Feuillage, Poems 92. The scout … ascends a knoll and sweeps his eye around.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. He swept off his hat in continental style.
12. intr. and trans. [f. SWEEP sb. 27.] To row, or to propel (a vessel), with sweeps or large oars. Also intr. of the vessel ? Obs.
1799. H. Digby, in Naval Chron., II. 342. The enemy … preserved his distance by towing and sweeping to the Westward.
1804. W. Carr, ibid., XII. 71. Obliged … to tow and sweep her out in a dead calm.
1839. Marryat, Phant. Ship, xxiii. They discovered a proa,… sweeping after them.
II. Senses with that over which something moves or is moved as the object.
13. trans. To pass a broom or brush over the surface of (something) so as to clear it of any small loose or adhering particles; to cleanse with a broom or brush (as a floor, room, or house of dust and small refuse, a path or street crossing of dirt, etc., or a chimney of soot). Also with down, out, up; and with clean as compl. Also (rarely, but cf. b) said of the broom.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter lxxvi. 7 [lxxvii. 6]. I swepid mi gaste [orig. scopebam spiritum meum].
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 157. Si le festes nette baler [gloss suepet klene].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 383. As vsage is, lat sweepe [v.rr. swepe, swope, swoope] the floor as swithe.
c. 1440. R. Gloucester’s Chron. (Rolls), 6945 (MS. δ). On þe bar erþe yswepe [v.rr. yswope, iswope, clene swope].
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour, viii. 11. To suepe and to kepe clene the chirche.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, cxxi. 169. Theyr chambres were … dayly made swyped clene.
1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVII. clix. (W. de W.), T viij b/1. Therwyth houses ben swepte [Bodl. MS. iswope] & clensyd.
1534–5. MS. Rawl. D. 777, lf. 78. Sweppyng and makyng Clene the said walk.
1535. Coverdale, Luke xv. 8. She … swepeth the house, and seketh diligently, tyll she fynde it.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 123. Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strowne.
1592. in Essex Rev. (1907), XVI. 162. He hadd seene a broome in his house swype the house without any hands.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 34. I am the Beesome that must sweepe the Court cleane of such filth as thou art.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Elixer, v. Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, Makes that and th’ action fine.
1683. Wilding, in Collect. (O.H.S.), I. 258. For sweeping my Chimney … 00 00 04.
a. 1756. Eliza Haywood, New Present (1771), 255. The steps ought to be swept down every day.
1775. Lett. John Murray (1901), 225. Be careful to have the used Chimneys sweep’d once a month.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., xiii. The black man who swept the crossing.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, x. The attendants … came in to sweep out the lecture-rooms.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxiii. (1861), V. 45. Charles Duncombe, who was born to carry parcels and to sweep down a countinghouse.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, ii. She … noticed … that her fire was bright, her hearth swept up, her lamp lighted.
b. absol. or intr.; also often said of the broom, esp. in prov. New brooms sweep clean.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 186. W[oman] with besome sweputh.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 922. She gan the hous to dighte … Preyynge the chambreres … To hasten hem, and faste swepe and shake.
1495. Coventry Leet Bk., 565. That all persones þat haue shopes … shall swep & make clene wekely before theire shopes.
1562. [see SWEETER 1].
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 16 b. The besome … wherewith the woman swept.
1656. in Nicholas Papers (Camden), III. 261. There is reason to sweepe cleane where the venom sticks soe close.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 376. Nasty, ill-looked fellows come in one’s room to sweep.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, XI. ii. (Rtldg.), 395. New brooms, they say, sweep clean!
1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars & Burtons, xxix. There was another forge established at the bottom of Church Street, and our business grew a little slack (for new brooms sweep clean).
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 353. I never allow my maid to go to that part of the room, but sweep and dust myself there.
c. trans. To do the chimney-sweeping for. colloq. or vulgar.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lx. Mr. Chummy, the chimney-purifier, who had swep’ the last three families.
14. To pass over the surface of (something) in the manner of a broom or brush; to move over and in contact with; to brush, rub like (or as with) a brush.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xiv. 73. Sic fowill tailis, to sweip the calsay clene.
1538. Elyot, Addit., Atta, is he that gothe so on the soles of his fete, that he swepeth the grounde, rather than walketh.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 33. His neck and locks fal a sweeping Thee ground.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 285. That garment is decently put on, Which doth not sweep the dust.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 98. With her length of Tail she [sc. a cow] sweeps the Ground.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 152. The long-remember’d beggar was his guest, Whose beard descending swept his aged breast.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxiii. The plume of feathers which he wore was so high, as if intended to sweep the roof of the hall.
† 15. To wipe; spec. in Falconry of a hawk, to wipe (the beak), = SEW v.3 Obs.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 950. To swepe the nose, moucer. Ibid., 956. To swepe, torcher.
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of N., II. iii. 19, stage direct. He sweepes his face.
1658. Phillips, s.v., A Hawk after she hath fed, is said to sweep, not wipe her beake.
16. transf. and fig. To clear of something by vigorous action compared to that of a broom; spec. to clear (a place) of enemies or a mob by firing amongst them.
To sweep the board (or † table): see BOARD sb. 5 c. To sweep the deck or (usu.) decks: to clear the deck of a ship (as by artillery, or as a wave breaking over): also fig.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, xlvi. First seauen Ships from Rochester are sent, The narrow Seas, of all the French to sweepe.
1678. Marvell, Growth Popery, 54. The false Dice must at the long run Carry it, unless discovered; and when it comes once to a great Stake, will Infallibly Sweep the Table.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. viii. 379. The Commodore’s grape-shot swept their decks so effectually,… that they began to fall into great disorder.
1817. Scott, Harold, IV. i. To sweep out And cleanse our chancel from the rags of Rome.
1832. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), II. 63. A scheme … so feeble, and so swept of everything like manly wisdom…as this.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, xxvi. III. 423. The country was completely swept of every thing valuable.
1856. Mrs. Stowe, Dred, II. viii. 91. In one day houses are swept of a whole family.
1878. Jefferies, Gamekeeper at H., vii. These fellows … will completely sweep a lane of all the birds whose song makes them valuable.
1880. Standard, 17 Dec., 6/7. Casco is reported to have arrived at Philadelphia with decks swept, boats carried away with other deck movables, and with loss of sails; had to work the pumps night and day; crew frost bitten.
17. To draw something, as a net or the bight of a rope, over the bottom of (a body of water) in search of something submerged; to drag. Also intr. to search for in this way. Also trans. to catch (something submerged) in this way.
1637. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., I. ii. Earine was drown’d!… Have you swept the river, say you, and not found her?
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. ii. 133. We were much concerned for the loss of our anchor, and swept frequently for it.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7), IV. 297. Divers went to Work, and swept for her.
1805. Naval Chron., XVI. 328. The Pilots … swept for and weighed the … anchors.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 293. When they [sc. whales] hang perpendicular, or when they cannot be seen, they are discovered by a process called ‘sweeping a fish.’
1836. Uncle Philip’s Convers. Whale Fishery, 82. While they are busy then, sweeping for these lines, some of the men from the other boats jump upon the whale and lash the fins together across his belly.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 167. Sweep the upper fluke with the bight of a hawser.
1901. Daily Chron., 12 Oct., 3/5. He then swept an area of half a mile from the wreck buoy to the north-westward.
18. To move swiftly and evenly or with continuous force over or along the surface of; in weakened sense, to pass over or across.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 23. As … russed-pated choughes,… (Rising and cawing at the guns report) Seuer themselues, and madly sweepe the skye.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 432. All the warring Winds that sweep the Skies.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XIII. 186. Swift as a swallow sweeps the liquid way.
1749. Smollett, Regic., II. iv. More swift than gales that sweep the plain.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. Introd. 11. An angry brook, it sweeps the glade.
1813. Byron, Giaour, 73. Before Decay’s effacing fingers Have swept the lines where beauty lingers.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xi. 238. The bed of the valley was swept along some parts of its width by winter torrents.
1913. Daily Graphic, 26 March, 8/4. The storm which swept the Central States on Sunday.
19. To range over (a region of sea or land), esp. to destroy, ravage, or capture; to scour.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., lxviii. VI. 489. Their artillery swept the waters.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 68. To fit out a vessel, for the purpose of sweeping the sea and committing acts of piracy.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, xxix. The Welsh … sweep the villages, and leave nothing behind them but blood and ashes.
1864. Burton, Scot. Abr., I. iii. 115. The Earls … swept the country as far as Edinburgh with more than the usual ferocity of a Border raid.
1884. Times (weekly ed.), 7 March, 3/1. The force advanced—the scouts sweeping a large area on both flanks.
1897. J. F. Ingram, Natalia, i. 11. With his [Chaka’s] magnificently organised armies he pitilessly swept the country.
b. Of artillery: To have within range, to command (an extent of territory).
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. xiv. 287. The cannon of the men of war would have swept all the coast to above a mile’s distance from the water’s edge.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xxxvi. The cannon, judiciously placed to sweep the pass.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 244. Macarthy placed his cannon in such a manner as to sweep this causeway.
20. To pass the fingers over the strings of a musical instrument so as to cause it to sound. (With the strings, or the instrument, as obj.) Chiefly poet.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 17. Begin, and somwhat loudly sweep the string.
1708. Pope, Ode St. Cecilia, 4. Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre!
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, I. Introd. 92. He swept the sounding chords along.
1831. G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, I. vii. He took his harp from a page, and sweeping it with a careless but a confident hand [etc.].
b. transf. To produce or elicit (music) by such action. poet.
1815. Shelley, Alastor, 166. Her fair hands … sweeping from some strange harp Strange symphony.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., ciii. The wind began to sweep A music out of sheet and shroud.
21. To direct the eyes, or an optical instrument, to every part of (a region) in succession; to take a wide survey of, to survey or view in its whole extent, esp. with a glass or telescope. Also absol. or intr.; in Astron. to make systematic observations of a region of the heavens (cf. SWEEP sb. 7).
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 435. O’er heaven and earth, far as the ranging eye Can sweep. Ibid., 1408. Here let us sweep The boundless landscape.
1786. Sir W. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., LXXVI. 460. I … began now to sweep with a vertical motion.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 322. I swept with my telescope … the line of the horizon.
1830. Edin. Rev., LI. 94. The heavens were … swept for double stars.
1883. F. M. Peard, Contrad., xviii. Before they reach the door, Dorothy has swept the garden with her eye.
1890. W. L. Gordon, Foundry, 26. The gun would remain in sight only long enough to fire. The enemy at sea would sweep the chalk hill in vain for a sign of its presence other than the smoke.
III. Intransitive senses denoting movement (esp. in a curve), and derived uses.
22. intr. To move with a strong or swift even motion; to move along over a surface or region, usu. rapidly, or with violence or destructive effect; sometimes, to come with a sudden attack, to swoop.
a. of a person, an animal, a ship (or the like).
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1509. Swyfte swaynes ful swyþe swepen þer-tylle.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 779. With ships the seas ar spred, Cutting the fome, by the blew seas they swepe.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. v. 48. Harry…, that sweepes through our Land With Penons painted in the blood of Harflew. Ibid. (1602), Ham., I. v. 31. That I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of Loue, May sweepe to my Reuenge.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, II. 271. Two Serpents … smoothly sweep along the swelling Tide.
1715. Pope, Iliad, II. 947. Now, like a Deluge, cov’ring all around, The shining Armies swept along the Ground.
1735. Somerville, Chase, III. 94. Down we sweep, as stoops the Falcon bold To pounce his Prey.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., IV. xii. When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry.
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Maurice Dering, II. 215. As she swept down The Row at a slinging canter.
1888. Stevenson, Black Arrow, 76. A whole company of men-at-arms came driving round the corner,… swept before the lads, and were gone again upon the instant.
b. of water, wind, flame, etc.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 111. Swangeande swete þe water con swepe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 342. There was wellit to wale water full nobill,… With a swoughe and a swetnes sweppit on þe grounde.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 107. When the South East wind blowes, and sweepes vpon the plaine.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxi. Their deep silence, except when the wind swept among their branches.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xxxix. The breeze swept along the water and caught the sails of the privateer.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xiv. 219. There were light breezes sweeping up.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xxxi. On came the flame…. The archers … fell, scorched corpses, as it swept on.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 73. South and south-west winds sweeping across that ocean.
c. of non-physical things.
1832. Longf., Coplas de Manrique, xxx. Our theme shall be of yesterday, Which to oblivion sweeps away, Like days of old.
1876. Trevelyan, Macaulay, vii. II. 16. All its associations and traditions swept at once across his memory.
1889. Jessopp, Coming of Friars, iv. 170. The plague swept over Europe.
d. To move a limb forcibly from side to side; spec. of a wounded whale swinging the flukes from side to side.
1839. Capt. Wilson, in Mag. Nat. Hist., Oct., 519. On endeavouring to raise the [saw-]fish it became most desperate, sweeping with its saw from side to side.
23. To move or walk in a stately manner, as with trailing garments; to move along majestically; ‘to pass with pomp’ (J.). Also with it.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 35. Her pace was like to Iunoes pompous straines, When as she sweeps through heauens brasse-paued way.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. iii. 80. She sweepes it through the Court with troups of Ladies. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., II. i. 55. Sweepe on you fat and greazie Citizens.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 98. Som time let Gorgeous Tragedy In Scepter’d Pall com sweeping by.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, I. xvi. Let them sweep on with heedless eyes!
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, ii. I heard her sweeping away.
1854. Stanley, Mem. Canterb., ii. (1857), 74. The indignant silence with which Becket had swept by.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc., vi. Having so spoken, she swept out of the room.
1913. Standard, 20 June, 7/7. As the long line of carriages swept along the broad, green pathway.
fig. 1822. Lamb, Eliana, J. Kemble & Godwin’s ‘Antonio.’ The first act swept by, solemn and silent.
24. To move along a surface or in the track of something like a trailing robe; to trail after; to brush along. Also fig.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., Wks. 1851, III. 317. Those things which are yours take them all with you, and they shall sweepe after you.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 117. The Land, that goes sweeping away with the Eldest Son.
1839. Longf., Hymn to Night, i. I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls!
25. To move continuously in a long stretch or over a wide extent, esp. round or in a curve; † to take a curve.
1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 35. How to form the Arch or Mold of the Hand-Rail of a Pair of Stairs that sweeps two Steps quicker than in the foregoing Examples.
1826. Scott, Jrnl., 6 Oct. The first flight of the hawks, when they sweep so beautifully round the company.
1830. Herschel, Study Nat. Phil., 280. Magnificent bodies united in pairs,… sweeping over their enormous orbits, in periods comprehending many centuries.
1831. G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, I. iii. Her eyes were long,… and the black lashes that fringed them … swept downward and lay upon her cheek.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xv. As she passed him,… her muslin dress swept within reach of his spur.
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., i. 10. The tentacles in the act of inflection sweep through a wide space.
1907. Bethell, Mod. Guns & Gunnery, 171. The line of fire of the left gun should sweep from point 71/2 to point 421/2.
26. To extend continuously through a long stretch, or widely around; to present a surface of wide extent.
1789. W. Gilpin, River Wye, 52. Grand woody hills sweeping, and intersecting each other.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, l. The forests of pine and chestnut that swept down the lower region of the mountains.
1708. Southey, Engl. Ecl., Old Mansion-House, 36. A carriage road That sweeps conveniently from gate to gate.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. 1. The flanking walls that round it sweep.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 72. A road swept gently round the hill.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Eur. (1894), iii. 71. The … glacier, sweeping in one majestic curve from the crest of the ridge.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., ii. 23. The Plain El Murka sweeps north, unbroken and entirely level.
b. trans. with cognate obj. To perform or execute (such a movement); to make (a curtsey), deal (a blow), with a sweeping motion.
[a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., IV. iv. (Arb.), 66. I with my newe broome will sweepe hym one swappe.]
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, li. Becky … swept the prettiest little curtsey ever seen.
1896. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Sowers, iv. She … swept him a deep curtsey.
1900. H. Sutcliffe, Shameless Wayne, xii. 158. He sweeps two blows [of his sword] in for every one of ours.
27. trans. To describe, trace, mark out (a line, esp. a wide curve, or an area); spec. in Shipbuilding: see quots., and cf. SWEEP sb. 15 c.
1664. E. Bushnell, Compl. Shipwright, iv. 9. Shewing, how to sweepe out the Bend of Moulds upon a Flat. Ibid., vii. 23. To finde the Sweepe … that will round any Beame, or other piece of Timber that is to be Sweept.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. ii. 53. You must have … a pair of Beam-Compasses, for to sweep the Arches.
1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 1. Open your Compasses…, and setting one Foot in the Point A, with the other sweep the Arch c e.
1805. Shipwright’s Vade-M., 171. The centre for sweeping the stem … must be set off thus.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 324. The areas described or swept, by lines drawn from the sun to the planet.
1843. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. III. iii. § 8. They … found it much easier to sweep circles than to design beauties.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 124. In those lines are found the centres for sweeping the lower and upper breadth sweeps.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 9 Sept., 4/2. The erection of the main framing from the platform and bottom sides, which is, in coachmakers’ parlance, also swept to shape.
28. Founding. To form (a mold) with a sweep (SWEEP sb. 30).
1835. [Horner], Pattern-making, ii. 13. Lay one edge of each sweeped piece on its respective pitch-line.
1909. Hawkins’ Mech. Dict., Sweep … In founding, to work a loam mould up to the proper outline, by means of profile boards moved over it under mechanical guidance.
1910. J. G. Horner, in Encycl. Brit., X. 744/1. That group of work in which the sand or loam is ‘swept’ to the form required for the moulds and cores by means of striking boards, loam boards, core boards or strickles. Ibid. These joints also are swept by the boards. Ibid. Its mould also is swept on bricks.
