Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context ambitransitive English) To clean by sweeping. 2 (context transitive English) to transport to shore by waves. 3 (context intransitive English) to overwhelm
WordNet
v. force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action; "They were swept up by the events"; "don't drag me into this business" [syn: embroil, tangle, sweep, drag, drag in]
take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own; "She embraced Catholocism"; "They adopted the Jewish faith" [syn: espouse, embrace, adopt]
Usage examples of "sweep up".
And Rumiko Hasegawa will work with us too, so that with three chairs and with me to sweep up and shine shoes, we ought to do very well.
There was no holiday for the cleaners who had to sweep up the leavings of the crowds who'd been watching the parade from here.
He flung the pencil of radiance in a wide sweep up the cliff and down along the terrace.
In a moment, they would sweep up the hillside in one of their standard flek firing formations.
She could still take the first group of Bugs, but they'd beat Waldeck's battle-line to scrap in the process, and then that second force would sweep up the pieces.
What they were able to sweep up from scene, then sim, indicated a military-style device.