Sweep v. World English Historical Dictionary

Sweep v. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1916, rev. 2022. Sweep v. 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.

1   The shortening of the stem-vowel in pa. t. and pa. pple. is shown in spellings c. 1400.

2   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.’]

3   I.  Senses with that which is removed or moved along as the object, and derived uses.

4   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.

5 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.]

6 1382.  Wyclif, Isa. xiv. 23. I shal destroȝe Babyloynes name … I shal sweepen it in a besme.

7 1552.  Huloet, Swepe away, euerro.

8 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.

9 1579.  in Archaeologia, LXIV. 357. For swipping and bearing rubbitch out of the hous.

10 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., V. i. 397. I am sent with broome before, To sweep the dust behinde the doore.

11 1650.  W. D., trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 582. Sweepings and scraps are swept away with besoms.

12 1746.  Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., II. viii. 15. Another sweeps the fragments of the feast.

13 1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. The old lodge-keeper … was wanted at the Court to sweep away the leaves.

14 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.

15   b.  Curling. = SOOP v.3 Also absol.

16 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.

17 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.

18   2.  To cut down or off with a vigorous swinging stroke. Now rare or Obs.

19 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.

20 c. 1440.  Capgrave, Life St. Kath., V. 1572. Thi owen wyues heed of þou dede sweepe.

21 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.

22 1840.  Thackeray, Catherine, viii. The reapers sweeping down the brown corn.

23   3.  To remove with a forcible continuous action; to brush off, away, aside.

24 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 188 b. The mothes, if they appeare, must bee sweeped away.

25 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 126. My hounds … their heads are hung With eares that sweepe away the morning dew.

26 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 469. The Gouernour caused Areta … to gather and swipe the Vermine vpon me.

27 1829.  Chapters Phys. Sci., 449. The same diluvial agency … appears also to have swept off the superior strata from extensive tracts.

28 1857.  Miller, Elem. Chem., Org. (1862), 17. The gases are to be swept out of the apparatus in the manner already described.

29 1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxvii. Sweep the chessmen off the board.

30 1867.  W. W. Smyth, Coal & Coal-mining, 64. The upper part of the series … has been swept away by denudation.

31 1867.  Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxviii. Leaning against the railing, she impatiently swept off the snowy lemon leaves.

32 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.

33   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.

34 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.

35 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.

36 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.

37 1771.  Smollett, Humphry Cl., 29 May. The tide of luxury has swept all the inhabitants from the open country.

38 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.

39 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.

40 1835.  Lytton, Rienzi, II. i. Let us sweep, then, our past conference from our recollection.

41 1842.  Lover, Handy Andy, i. 13. Divil sweep you!

42 1855.  Prescott, Philip II., I. vi. (1857), 106. The Moslems … butchered the inhabitants, or swept them off into hopeless slavery.

43 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.

44   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.

45 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?

46 1632.  Sanderson, Serm., 316. When He … sweepeth away religious Princes, wise Senatours, zealous Magistrates.

47 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.

48 a. 1720.  Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. Pref. p. xvi. These God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles.

49 1726.  Pope, Odyss., XXIV. 134. Did the rage of stormy Neptune sweep Your lives at once, and whelm beneath the deep?

50 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.

51 1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & Bks., II. viii. 158. The heart of man is constantly sweeping away the errors he gets into his brain.

52 1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 31. Long after Carthage and the Carthaginians had been swept away.

53 1878.  Dale, Lect. Preach., iii. 83. In the early part of the third chapter the last hopes of the Jews are swept away.

54   6.  To carry or drive along with force; to carry away or off by driving before it, as a wind, tide, stream, etc.

55 1743.  Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, I. vii. 24. The south wind often … Sweeps off the clouds.

56 1783.  Crabbe, Village, I. 128. Till some fierce tide … Sweeps the low hut and all it holds away.

57 1813.  Byron, Giaour, 18. If at times a transient breeze … sweep one blossom from the trees.

58 1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, ix. The tide was sweeping us past.

59 1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, v. He was swept, along with the mob in which he had been fast wedged, through a dark low passage.

60 1879.  Farrar, St. Paul, V. xx. I. 360. They might find the bridges shattered and swept away by the sudden spates of rushing streams.

61   fig.  1867.  Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., xx. (1875), 303. The fury of the minority swept all before it.

62   b.  To sweep off: to drink off, swallow down quickly. Obs. or dial.

63 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.

64 1863.  Mrs. Toogood, Yorksh. Dial. (MS.). Take the pint and sweep it off.

65   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.

66 c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4947. Þan sal alle þe fire be sweped doune In-til helle.

67 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 385. The Mullok on an hoepe sweped [v.rr. yswoped, iswepid, yswepped] was.

68 1538.  Elyot, Addit., Conuerro,… to swepe to gether into one place.

69 1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 394 b. Oure aduersaries … destroyinge the wealthe of the Empire, swepe all into theyr owne coffers.

70 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.

71 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.

72 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.

73 1706.  E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 68. He is sure to sweep fifty Pounds at least into his Pocket.

74 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.

75 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.

76 1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, iii. Sybil swept her much-enduring instructress up to her room.

77 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.

78 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.

79   b.  fig. To include in its scope; to extend to.

80 1692.  R. L’Estrange, Fables, lxxiii. 73. The Letter of the Law Sweeps All in such a Case, without Distinction of Persons.

81 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.

82   8.  To gather in or up, collect wholesale or at one stroke; esp. in phr. to sweep the stakes (cf. SWEEPSTAKE).

83 1635.  Shirley, Traitor, V. i. Death’s a devouring gamester, And sweepes up all.

84 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.

85 1705.  trans. Bosman’s Guinea, 90. A Portuguese or Interloper … by selling cheap, sweeps a great part, if not all their Gold.

86 1732.  Pope, Ep. Bathurst, 71. If the stakes he sweep.

87 1907.  Daily Chron., 7 June, 6/6. Sweepstakes are always swept by the man who does not want the money.

88   9.  To carry or trail along in a stately manner, as a flowing garment.

89 1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. iii. 6. Let frantike Talbot triumph for a while, And like a Peacock sweepe along his tayle.

90 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.

91   10.  To move or draw (something) over and in contact with a surface.

92 1825.  Scott, Talism., xxvi. Again sweeping his fingers over the strings.

93 1894.  Baring-Gould, Kitty Alone, II. 141. He swept the brush vigorously about, so as to disperse over the floor any particles.

94   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.

95 1845.  J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xiv. 217. He … ended the matter by sweeping round quickly our canoe, and capsized the other.

96 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.

97 1868.  Whitman, Amer. Feuillage, Poems 92. The scout … ascends a knoll and sweeps his eye around.

98 1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. 11. He swept off his hat in continental style.

99   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.

100 1799.  H. Digby, in Naval Chron., II. 342. The enemy … preserved his distance by towing and sweeping to the Westward.

101 1804.  W. Carr, ibid., XII. 71. Obliged … to tow and sweep her out in a dead calm.

102 1839.  Marryat, Phant. Ship, xxiii. They discovered a proa,… sweeping after them.

103   II.  Senses with that over which something moves or is moved as the object.

104   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.

105 a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter lxxvi. 7 [lxxvii. 6]. I swepid mi gaste [orig. scopebam spiritum meum].

106 c. 1325.  Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 157. Si le festes nette baler [gloss suepet klene].

107 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 383. As vsage is, lat sweepe [v.rr. swepe, swope, swoope] the floor as swithe.

108 c. 1440.  R. Gloucester’s Chron. (Rolls), 6945 (MS. δ). On þe bar erþe yswepe [v.rr. yswope, iswope, clene swope].

109 a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour, viii. 11. To suepe and to kepe clene the chirche.

110 1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, cxxi. 169. Theyr chambres were … dayly made swyped clene.

111 1495.  Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVII. clix. (W. de W.), T viij b/1. Therwyth houses ben swepte [Bodl. MS. iswope] & clensyd.

112 1534–5.  MS. Rawl. D. 777, lf. 78. Sweppyng and makyng Clene the said walk.

113 1535.  Coverdale, Luke xv. 8. She … swepeth the house, and seketh diligently, tyll she fynde it.

114 1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 123. Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strowne.

115 1592.  in Essex Rev. (1907), XVI. 162. He hadd seene a broome in his house swype the house without any hands.

116 1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vii. 34. I am the Beesome that must sweepe the Court cleane of such filth as thou art.

117 1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Elixer, v. Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, Makes that and th’ action fine.

118 1683.  Wilding, in Collect. (O.H.S.), I. 258. For sweeping my Chimney … 00 00 04.

119 a. 1756.  Eliza Haywood, New Present for Maid (1771), 255. The steps ought to be swept down every day.

120 1775.  Lett. John Murray (1901), 225. Be careful to have the used Chimneys sweep’d once a month.

121 1841.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., xiii. The black man who swept the crossing.

122 1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, x. The attendants … came in to sweep out the lecture-rooms.

123 a. 1859.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxiii. (1861), V. 45. Charles Duncombe, who was born to carry parcels and to sweep down a countinghouse.

124 1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, ii. She … noticed … that her fire was bright, her hearth swept up, her lamp lighted.

125   b.  absol. or intr.; also often said of the broom, esp. in prov. New brooms sweep clean.

126 c. 1340.  Nominale (Skeat), 186. W[oman] with besome sweputh.

127 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 922. She gan the hous to dighte … Preyynge the chambreres … To hasten hem, and faste swepe and shake.

128 1495.  Coventry Leet Bk., 565. That all persones þat haue shopes … shall swep & make clene wekely before theire shopes.

129 1562.  [see SWEEPER 1].

130 1579.  W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 16 b. The besome … wherewith the woman swept.

131 1656.  in Nicholas Papers (Camden), III. 261. There is reason to sweepe cleane where the venom sticks soe close.

132 1789.  Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 376. Nasty, ill-looked fellows come in one’s room to sweep.

133 1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, XI. ii. (Rtldg.), 395. New brooms, they say, sweep clean!

134 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).

135 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.

136   c.  trans. To do the chimney-sweeping for. colloq. or vulgar.

137 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, lx. Mr. Chummy, the chimney-purifier, who had swep’ the last three families.

138   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.

139 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xiv. 73. Sic fowill tailis, to sweip the calsay clene.

140 1538.  Elyot, Addit., Atta, is he that gothe so on the soles of his fete, that he swepeth the grounde, rather than walketh.

141 1582.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 33. His neck and locks fal a sweeping Thee ground.

142 1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 285. That garment is decently put on, Which doth not sweep the dust.

143 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 98. With her length of Tail she [sc. a cow] sweeps the Ground.

144 1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 152. The long-remember’d beggar was his guest, Whose beard descending swept his aged breast.

145 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.

146   † 15.  To wipe; spec. in Falconry of a hawk, to wipe (the beak), = SEW v.3 Obs.

147 c. 1532.  Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 950. To swepe the nose, moucer. Ibid., 956. To swepe, torcher.

148 1625.  B. Jonson, Staple of N., II. iii. 19, stage direct. He sweepes his face.

149 1658.  Phillips, s.v., A Hawk after she hath fed, is said to sweep, not wipe her beake.

150   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.

151   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.

152 1627.  Drayton, Agincourt, xlvi. First seauen Ships from Rochester are sent, The narrow Seas, of all the French to sweepe.

153 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.

154 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.

155 1817.  Scott, Harold, IV. i. To sweep out And cleanse our chancel from the rags of Rome.

156 1832.  Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), II. 63. A scheme … so feeble, and so swept of everything like manly wisdom…as this.

157 1836.  Thirlwall, Greece, xxvi. III. 423. The country was completely swept of every thing valuable.

158 1856.  Mrs. Stowe, Dred, II. viii. 91. In one day houses are swept of a whole family.

159 1878.  Jefferies, Gamekeeper at H., vii. These fellows … will completely sweep a lane of all the birds whose song makes them valuable.

160 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.

161   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.

162 1637.  B. Jonson, Sad Sheph., I. ii. Earine was drown’d!… Have you swept the river, say you, and not found her?

163 1748.  Anson’s Voy., II. ii. 133. We were much concerned for the loss of our anchor, and swept frequently for it.

164 1769.  De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7), IV. 297. Divers went to Work, and swept for her.

165 1805.  Naval Chron., XVI. 328. The Pilots … swept for and weighed the … anchors.

166 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.’

167 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.

168 1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 167. Sweep the upper fluke with the bight of a hawser.

169 1901.  Daily Chron., 12 Oct., 3/5. He then swept an area of half a mile from the wreck buoy to the north-westward.

170   18.  To move swiftly and evenly or with continuous force over or along the surface of; in weakened sense, to pass over or across.

171 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.

172 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 432. All the warring Winds that sweep the Skies.

173 1725.  Pope, Odyss., XIII. 186. Swift as a swallow sweeps the liquid way.

174 1749.  Smollett, Regic., II. iv. More swift than gales that sweep the plain.

175 1808.  Scott, Marm., I. Introd. 11. An angry brook, it sweeps the glade.

176 1813.  Byron, Giaour, 73. Before Decay’s effacing fingers Have swept the lines where beauty lingers.

177 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.

178 1913.  Daily Graphic, 26 March, 8/4. The storm which swept the Central States on Sunday.

179   19.  To range over (a region of sea or land), esp. to destroy, ravage, or capture; to scour.

180 1788.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., lxviii. VI. 489. Their artillery swept the waters.

181 1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 68. To fit out a vessel, for the purpose of sweeping the sea and committing acts of piracy.

182 1825.  Scott, Betrothed, xxix. The Welsh … sweep the villages, and leave nothing behind them but blood and ashes.

183 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.

184 1884.  Times (weekly ed.), 7 March, 3/1. The force advanced—the scouts sweeping a large area on both flanks.

185 1897.  J. F. Ingram, Natalia, i. 11. With his [Chaka’s] magnificently organised armies he pitilessly swept the country.

186   b.  Of artillery: To have within range, to command (an extent of territory).

187 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.

188 1829.  Scott, Anne of G., xxxvi. The cannon, judiciously placed to sweep the pass.

189 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 244. Macarthy placed his cannon in such a manner as to sweep this causeway.

190   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.

191 1637.  Milton, Lycidas, 17. Begin, and somwhat loudly sweep the string.

192 1708.  Pope, Ode St. Cecilia, 4. Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre!

193 1805.  Scott, Last Minstrel, I. Introd. 92. He swept the sounding chords along.

194 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.].

195   b.  transf. To produce or elicit (music) by such action. poet.

196 1815.  Shelley, Alastor, 166. Her fair hands … sweeping from some strange harp Strange symphony.

197 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., ciii. The wind began to sweep A music out of sheet and shroud.

198   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).

199 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.

200 1786.  Sir W. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., LXXVI. 460. I … began now to sweep with a vertical motion.

201 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 322. I swept with my telescope … the line of the horizon.

202 1830.  Edin. Rev., LI. 94. The heavens were … swept for double stars.

203 1883.  F. M. Peard, Contrad., xviii. Before they reach the door, Dorothy has swept the garden with her eye.

204 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.

205   III.  Intransitive senses denoting movement (esp. in a curve), and derived uses.

206   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.

207   a.  of a person, an animal, a ship (or the like).

208 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1509. Swyfte swaynes ful swyþe swepen þer-tylle.

209 a. 1547.  Surrey, Æneid, IV. 779. With ships the seas ar spred, Cutting the fome, by the blew seas they swepe.

210 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.

211 1697.  Dryden, Æneid, II. 271. Two Serpents … smoothly sweep along the swelling Tide.

212 1715.  Pope, Iliad, II. 947. Now, like a Deluge, cov’ring all around, The shining Armies swept along the Ground.

213 1735.  Somerville, Chase, III. 94. Down we sweep, as stoops the Falcon bold To pounce his Prey.

214 1810.  Scott, Lady of L., IV. xii. When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry.

215 1864.  G. A. Lawrence, Maurice Dering, II. 215. As she swept down The Row at a slinging canter.

216 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.

217   b.  of water, wind, flame, etc.

218 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 111. Swangeande swete þe water con swepe.

219 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 342. There was wellit to wale water full nobill,… With a swoughe and a swetnes sweppit on þe grounde.

220 1617.  Moryson, Itin., III. 107. When the South East wind blowes, and sweepes vpon the plaine.

221 1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxi. Their deep silence, except when the wind swept among their branches.

222 1835.  Marryat, Jacob Faithful, xxxix. The breeze swept along the water and caught the sails of the privateer.

223 1845.  J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xiv. 219. There were light breezes sweeping up.

224 1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxxi. On came the flame…. The archers … fell, scorched corpses, as it swept on.

225 1877.  Huxley, Physiogr., 73. South and south-west winds sweeping across that ocean.

226   c.  of non-physical things.

227 1832.  Longf., Coplas de Manrique, xxx. Our theme shall be of yesterday, Which to oblivion sweeps away, Like days of old.

228 1876.  Trevelyan, Macaulay, vii. II. 16. All its associations and traditions swept at once across his memory.

229 1889.  Jessopp, Coming of Friars, iv. 170. The plague swept over Europe.

230   d.  To move a limb forcibly from side to side; spec. of a wounded whale swinging the flukes from side to side.

231 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.

232   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.

233 1590.  Greene, Never too late (1600), 35. Her pace was like to Iunoes pompous straines, When as she sweeps through heauens brasse-paued way.

234 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.

235 1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 98. Som time let Gorgeous Tragedy In Scepter’d Pall com sweeping by.

236 1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, I. xvi. Let them sweep on with heedless eyes!

237 1847.  C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, ii. I heard her sweeping away.

238 1854.  Stanley, Mem. Canterb., ii. (1857), 74. The indignant silence with which Becket had swept by.

239 1869.  Trollope, He knew, etc., vi. Having so spoken, she swept out of the room.

240 1913.  Standard, 20 June, 7/7. As the long line of carriages swept along the broad, green pathway.

241   fig.  1822.  Lamb, Eliana, J. Kemble & Godwin’s ‘Antonio.’ The first act swept by, solemn and silent.

242   24.  To move along a surface or in the track of something like a trailing robe; to trail after; to brush along. Also fig.

243 1642.  Milton, Apol. Smect., Wks. 1851, III. 317. Those things which are yours take them all with you, and they shall sweepe after you.

244 1670.  Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 117. The Land, that goes sweeping away with the Eldest Son.

245 1839.  Longf., Hymn to Night, i. I heard the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls!

246   25.  To move continuously in a long stretch or over a wide extent, esp. round or in a curve; † to take a curve.

247 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.

248 1826.  Scott, Jrnl., 6 Oct. The first flight of the hawks, when they sweep so beautifully round the company.

249 1830.  Herschel, Study Nat. Phil., 280. Magnificent bodies united in pairs,… sweeping over their enormous orbits, in periods comprehending many centuries.

250 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.

251 1867.  Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xv. As she passed him,… her muslin dress swept within reach of his spur.

252 1875.  Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., i. 10. The tentacles in the act of inflection sweep through a wide space.

253 1907.  Bethell, Mod. Guns & Gunnery, 171. The line of fire of the left gun should sweep from point 71/2 to point 421/2.

254   26.  To extend continuously through a long stretch, or widely around; to present a surface of wide extent.

255 1789.  W. Gilpin, River Wye, 52. Grand woody hills sweeping, and intersecting each other.

256 1794.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, l. The forests of pine and chestnut that swept down the lower region of the mountains.

257 1708.  Southey, Engl. Ecl., Old Mansion-House, 36. A carriage road That sweeps conveniently from gate to gate.

258 1808.  Scott, Marm., I. 1. The flanking walls that round it sweep.

259 1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 72. A road swept gently round the hill.

260 1871.  L. Stephen, Playgr. Eur. (1894), iii. 71. The … glacier, sweeping in one majestic curve from the crest of the ridge.

261 1879.  S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., ii. 23. The Plain El Murka sweeps north, unbroken and entirely level.

262   b.  trans. with cognate obj. To perform or execute (such a movement); to make (a curtsey), deal (a blow), with a sweeping motion.

263 [a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., IV. iv. (Arb.), 66. I with my newe broome will sweepe hym one swappe.]

264 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, li. Becky … swept the prettiest little curtsey ever seen.

265 1896.  ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Sowers, iv. She … swept him a deep curtsey.

266 1900.  H. Sutcliffe, Shameless Wayne, xii. 158. He sweeps two blows [of his sword] in for every one of ours.

267   27.  trans. To describe, trace, mark out (a line, esp. a wide curve, or an area); spec. in Shipbuilding: see quots., and cf. SWEEPsb. 15 c.

268 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.

269 1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., II. ii. 53. You must have … a pair of Beam-Compasses, for to sweep the Arches.

270 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.

271 1805.  Shipwright’s Vade-M., 171. The centre for sweeping the stem … must be set off thus.

272 1837.  Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 324. The areas described or swept, by lines drawn from the sun to the planet.

273 1843.  Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. III. iii. § 8. They … found it much easier to sweep circles than to design beauties.

274 c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 124. In those lines are found the centres for sweeping the lower and upper breadth sweeps.

275 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.

276   28.  Founding. To form (a mold) with a sweep (SWEEP sb. 30).

277 1835.  [Horner], Pattern-making, ii. 13. Lay one edge of each sweeped piece on its respective pitch-line.

278 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.

279 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.

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