Crossword clues for sweeping
sweeping
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sweep \Sweep\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Swept; p. pr. & vb. n. Sweeping.] [OE. swepen; akin to AS. sw[=a]pan. See Swoop, v. i.]
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To pass a broom across (a surface) so as to remove loose 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. -
To drive or carry along or off with a broom or a brush, or as if with a broom; to remove by, or as if by, brushing; as, to sweep dirt from a floor; the wind sweeps the snow from the hills; a freshet sweeps away a dam, timber, or rubbish; a pestilence sweeps off multitudes.
The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.
--Isa. xxviii. 17.I have already swept the stakes.
--Dryden. -
To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
Their long descending train, With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain.
--Dryden. -
To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
And like a peacock sweep along his tail.
--Shak. -
To strike with a long stroke.
Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre.
--Pope. (Naut.) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net.
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To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope.
To sweep a mold or To sweep up a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.
Sweeping \Sweep"ing\, a. Cleaning off surfaces, or cleaning away dust, dirt, or litter, as a broom does; moving with swiftness and force; 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.
Wiktionary
1 wide, broad, affecting or touching upon many things 2 Completely overwhelming n. 1 (context countable English) An instance of sweeping. 2 (context uncountable English) The activity of sweeping. v
(present participle of sweep English)
WordNet
adj. taking in or moving over (or as if over) a wide area; often used in combination; "a sweeping glance"; "a wide-sweeping view of the river"
ignoring distinctions; "sweeping generalizations"; "wholesale destruction" [syn: wholesale]
having broad range or effect; "had extensive press coverage"; "far-reaching changes in the social structure"; "sweeping reforms" [syn: extensive, far-reaching]
n. the act of cleaning with a broom
Usage examples of "sweeping".
Paris in an infinite number of petty questions as to tenants, abutters, liabilities, taxes, repairs, sweepings, decorations for the Fete-Dieu, waste-pipes, lighting, projections over the public way, and the neighborhood of unhealthy buildings.
At the top of the slow rise, the parcel became flat and I could see gently undulating acreage sweeping out in all directions.
She wanted to see Aerians sweeping the heights above, and Leontines prowling around the pillars that were placed beneath those heights, as if they held up not only ceiling but sky.
She shrieked to the ravens that croaked from afar, And she sighed to the gusts of the wild sweeping wind.
Numerous monks and peasants working afield goggled as I flashed past them, and Brother Vitalis was sweeping the dorter when I lunged in there.
EUROPE, French armies had been sweeping across Italy and Austria, in a campaign of French aggrandizement led by young General Napoleon Bonaparte, who appeared invincible.
With a grinding rumble, an entire section of the pile gave way just below where Alec stood, sweeping the swordsman over the edge.
We were a strange procession -- Dem Ria and Dem Loa sweeping down the steep staircase ahead of me, then me carrying the flechette pistol and fumbling the rucksack on my back, then little Bin followed by his sister, Ces Ambre, then, carefully locking the trapdoor behind him, Alem Mikail Dem Alem.
There was no end to the laughter in his head, the laughter that rode the wind sweeping through Aren Gate at his back.
Trading precious altitude for more speed, Batman plunged toward the jungle canopy, watching as the rapidly sweeping hands of his altimeter ticked off the feet.
The two incoming MiGs flashed past the damaged Tomcat, hurtling toward the south before beginning a broad, sweeping turn which would bring them in behind Batman and Malibu.
All day spent with books has a rather exhausting effect on the mind, and he used to enjoy the fresh air sweeping up the dark Brooklyn streets, meditating some thought that had sprung from his reading, while Bock sniffed and padded along in the manner of an elderly dog at night.
She hustled him out of his pile of blankets and set him to sweeping floors, helping in the laundries, and cleaning the various ingenious instruments of lighting that had accumulated in this place over the yearsbrass candlesticks and chamber-sticks, candle-snuffers, wax-jacks, bougie boxes, wick-trimmers, douters, candle-boxes, and lamps.
The boxwood hedges and sweeping fir boughs were frosted with white, glittering with faint crystalline sparkles.
Basil suffered from the disturbed condition of the country, and when Napoleon came to Bruges in 1810 it was such a complete wreck that the magistrates were on the point of sweeping it away altogether.