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dirt, dust, etc.; to brush, or rub over, with a broom for the purpose of cleaning; as, to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney. Used also figuratively. I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. Isa. xiv. 23.

A bow-saw.

The crop of hay got in a meadow. [Prov. Eng.]

One who, or that which, sweeps, or cleans by sweeping; a sweep; as, a carpet sweeper. It is oxygen which is the great sweeper of the economy. Huxley.

orce; carrying everything before it; including in its scope many persons or things; as, a sweeping flood; a sweeping majority; a sweeping accusation. -- Sweep"ing*ly, adv. -Sweep"ing*ness, n.

Things collected by sweeping; rubbish; as, the sweepings of a street.

A complete removal or carrying away; a clean sweep. [Obs.] Bp. Hacket.

A winning of all the stakes or prizes; a sweepstake.

One who extracts the residuum of precious metals from the sweepings, potsherds, etc., of refineries of gold and silver, or places where these metals are used.

Moving with a sweeping motion. The branches bend before their sweepy away. Dryden.

To sweep over or across; to pass over rapidly. [R.] Thomson.

The pewit, or lapwing.

as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars. Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojan sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep. Waller.

. Barbette battery. See Barbette. -- Battery d'enfilade, or Enfilading battery, one that sweeps the whole length of a line of troops or part of a work. -- Battery en écharpe, one that plays obliquely. -- Battery gun, a gun capable of firing a number, of shots simultaneously or successively without stopping to load.…

A brush of twigs for sweeping; a broom; anything which sweeps away or destroys. [Archaic or Fig.] I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. Isa. xiv. 23. The housemaid with her besom. W. Irving.

A plant having twigs suitable for making brooms to sweep with when bound together; esp., the Cytisus scoparius of Western Europe, which is a low shrub with long, straight, green, angular branches, mintue leaves, and large yellow flowers. No gypsy cowered o'er fires of furze and broom. Wordsworth.

ten to perform important services around the house by night, such as thrashing, churning, sweeping. [Scot.]

or to pass lightly over, as with a brush. Some spread their sailes, some with strong oars sweep The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave. Fairfax. Brushed with the kiss of rustling wings. Milton.

- Carpet snake (Zoöl.), an Australian snake. See Diamond snake, under Diamond. -- Carpet sweeper, an apparatus or device for sweeping carpets. -- To be on the carpet, to be under consideration; to be the subject of deliberation; to be in sight; -- an expression derived from the use of carpets as table cover. -- Brus…

ort ropes or iron cramps used to brace in the shrouds toward the masts so a to give freer sweep to the yards.