sweep

1 /swi:p/ verb past tense and past participle swept /swept/

1 CLEAN STH (T) to clean the dust, dirt etc from the floor or ground using a special brush: Bert swept the path in front of the house. | Sweep the floor clean for me please.

2 PUSH STH SOMEWHERE (transitive always + adv/prep)

a) to clean a surface by pushing something to a particular place or in a particular direction with a special brush: Could you sweep the snow off the patio for me?

b) to move something to a particular place or in a particular direction with a brushing or swinging movement: The wind swept the dead leaves away. | I swept the papers quickly into the drawer.

3 CROWD (intransitive always + adv/prep) if a group of people sweep somewhere, they quickly move there together

(+ through/along etc): The crowd swept through the gates of the stadium.

4 PERSON (intransitive always + adv/prep) if someone sweeps somewhere, they move quickly and confidently, especially because they are impatient or like to seem important

(+ into/through etc): Eva swept into the meeting and demanded to know what was going on

5 WIND/WAVES ETC (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive) if winds, waves, storms etc sweep a place or sweep through, across etc a place, they move quickly and with a lot of force

(+ across/through etc): 90 mile per hour winds swept across the plains. | sweep sth: Thunderstorms swept the country.

6 IDEA/FEELING (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive) if an idea or feeling sweeps a group of people or sweeps across, over etc a group, it quickly becomes very popular with them

(+ across/through etc): The new dance craze swept through the teenage population. | sweep sth: a wave of nationalism sweeping the country

7 sweep sb along/away

a) if a crowd sweeps someone along or away it forces them to move in the same direction it is moving in: I was swept away by the crowd and lost sight of Alyssa completely.

b) if a feeling or idea sweeps you along or away, you are so involved or interested in it that you forget about other things: 19th century scientists swept along on the tide of Darwin's theories.

8 sweep to victory/power to win something easily and in an impressive way: Nixon and Agnew swept to victory with 47 million votes.

9 sweep the board to win everything that can be won, especially very easily

10 FORM A CURVE (intransitive always + adv/prep) to form a long curved shape

(+ down/a long etc): The hills swept down to the sea.

11 LOOK (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive) to look quickly at all of something: The General's eyes swept the horizon.

(+ over/across/around etc): Her eyes swept over Marcia appraisingly.

12 sweep sb off their feet to make someone feel suddenly and strongly attracted to you in a romantic way: Jill's been swept off her feet by an older man.

13 sweep sth under the carpet also sweep sth under the rug AmE to try to keep something a secret, especially something you have done wrong

sweep sth aside phrasal verb (T) to refuse to pay attention to something someone says sweep sth away phrasal verb (T)

1 to completely destroy something or make something disappear: houses swept away by the floods | A sudden feeling of nostalgia swept all my anger away.

2 to be so interested or involved in something that you forget about other things: be swept away by: We couldn't help being swept away by Bette's enthusiasm.

sweep sth back phrasal verb (T) if you sweep your hair back, you pull it back from your face, especially so that it stays in that style (+ in/into): Kerry swept her hair back into a bun. sweep up phrasal verb

1 (I, T) to clean a place using a special brush, or to pick up dirt, dust etc in this way: The janitor was just sweeping up as I left the building.

(sweep something up): Jan was left to sweep up the bits of paper and broken glass.

2 (transitive sweep someone up) to pick someone up in one quick movement: Harriet swept the child up in her arms and stormed out.

3 sweep sb's hair up to pull someone's hair back away from their face, especially so that it stays in that style

2 noun

1 (C) a long swinging movement of your arm, a weapon etc: With one sweep of his sword, he cut through the rope.

2 (countable usually singular) BrE the act of sweeping something: The kitchen needs a good sweep.

3 the sweep of

a) a long curved line or area of land

(+ of): the sweep of the hills in the distance

b) the quality that an idea, plan, piece of writing etc has of considering many different and important things: the grand sweep of Whitman's poetic vision

4 (countable usually singular) a search or attack that moves over a large area

5 sweeps (singular) AmE informal a sweepstake

6 (C) a chimneysweep

—see also: clean sweep clean 1 (12)