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The Collaborative International Dictionary
swepe

Sweep \Sweep\, n.

  1. The act of sweeping.

  2. The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep.

  3. The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.

  4. The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away everything within its sweep.

  5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease.

  6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the sweep of a compass.

  7. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the like, away from a rectlinear line.

    The road which makes a small sweep.
    --Sir W. Scott.

  8. One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney sweeper.

  9. (Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam molding.

  10. (Naut.)

    1. The mold of a ship when she begins to curve in at the rungheads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of a circle.

    2. A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.

  11. (Refining) The almond furnace. [Obs.]

  12. A long pole, or piece of timber, moved on a horizontal fulcrum fixed to a tall post and used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water. [Variously written swape, sweep, swepe, and swipe.]

  13. (Card Playing) In the game of casino, a pairing or combining of all the cards on the board, and so removing them all; in whist, the winning of all the tricks (thirteen) in a hand; a slam.

  14. pl. The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.

    Sweep net, a net for drawing over a large compass.

    Sweep of the tiller (Naut.), a circular frame on which the tiller traverses.