sweep
verb
[ swiːp ]
• clean (an area) by brushing away dirt or litter.
• "I've swept the floor"
Similar:
brush,
clean,
scrub,
wipe,
mop,
dust,
scour,
scrape,
rake,
buff,
vacuum,
hoover,
do,
• move swiftly and smoothly.
• "a large black car swept past the open windows"
Similar:
glide,
sail,
dash,
charge,
rush,
streak,
speed,
fly,
zoom,
swoop,
whizz,
hurtle,
tear,
• search (an area) for something.
• "the detective swept the room for hair and fingerprints"
Similar:
search,
probe,
check,
explore,
hunt through,
look through,
delve in,
go through,
sift through,
scour,
comb,
leave no stone unturned in,
sweep
noun
• an act of sweeping something with a brush.
• "I was giving the floor a quick sweep"
• a long, swift curving movement.
• "a grandiose sweep of his hand"
• a procedure for inducing labour in a pregnant woman, in which a medical practitioner moves a finger around within the opening of the cervix to detach the amniotic membranes.
• "I went in for a sweep at 41 weeks"
• a comprehensive search or survey of a place or area.
• "the police finished their sweep through the woods"
• a long, typically curved stretch of road, river, or land.
• "we could see a wide sweep of country perhaps a hundred miles across"
• a sweepstake.
• an instance of winning every event, award, or place in a contest.
• "a World Series sweep"
• a long, heavy oar used to row a barge or other vessel.
• "a big, heavy sweep oar"
• a sail of a windmill.
• a long pole mounted as a lever for raising buckets from a well.
Origin:
Old English swāpan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to German schweifen ‘sweep in a curve’.
