sweep

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To clean a floor or surface using a broom or brush.

   Please sweep the floor before the guests arrive.

2. 2
   verb

   To move quickly and powerfully across an area.

   The wind sweeps across the open plain.

3. 3
   verb

   To push or remove something quickly with a wide movement.

   She swept the crumbs off the table with her hand.

4. 4
   noun

   A wide curving movement or area.

   With a single sweep of his arm, he cleared the desk.

Common collocations

• sweep the floor Verb + noun

From Middle English swepen, from Proto-West Germanic *swaipijan (unattested in Old English), from Proto-Germanic *swaipijaną. Cognate with Early Modern West Frisian swiepe (“whip, cleanse, sweep”), from Old Frisian swēpa, suepa (“sweep”). More distantly related to Old Norse sveipa (whence Swedish svepa). See also swoop.

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