- sweep
- Sweep Sweep, n.
1. The act of sweeping.
[1913 Webster]
2. The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep. [1913 Webster]
3. The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye. [1913 Webster]
4. The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away everything within its sweep. [1913 Webster]
5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease. [1913 Webster]
6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the sweep of a compass. [1913 Webster]
7. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the like, away from a rectlinear line. [1913 Webster]
The road which makes a small sweep. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
8. One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney sweeper. [1913 Webster]
9. (Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam molding. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
11. (Refining) The almond furnace. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
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}.] [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
14. pl. The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc. [1913 Webster]
{Sweep net}, a net for drawing over a large compass.
{Sweep of the tiller} (Naut.), a circular frame on which the tiller traverses. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.