▪ I. sweeping, vbl. n.
(ˈswiːpɪŋ)
[f. sweep v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb sweep. a. Cleansing, or removing, with or as with a broom or brush: also fig.
| c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab., Cok & Jasp. i, Scraipand amang the ass..He fand ane Ioly Iasp,..Was castin furth be sweping of the houss. 1519 in Archaeologia XXV. 423 P{supd} to John y⊇ Scott of Ryngstede, for swepyng of y⊇ Kechyn Chymnye. ij d. 1558 Nottingham Rec. IV. 119 The sweppyng and dressyng of the Counsell' Housse. 1591 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 70 Dressinge of privies and swypinge of chimnes for onne holl yere xvj{supd}. 1639 Crabtree Lect. 25 Thou biddest them everie night looke to the sweeping of thy shop. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch II. 460 Fine gardens and walks that require much watering and sweeping. 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1853) 337 It is impossible for any just man to regret the sweeping away of this base race of Squires. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i, The chimneys wanted sweeping. 1867 W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 205 We must provide for the sweeping away of the products of breathing and combustion. 1884 H. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Nov. 889/2 She tied up her mouth when sweeping was in progress. 1900 Daily Tel. 2 Oct. (Ware) Though the time has come when Volunteers, Yeomen, and Guards should be sent home, there is still a good deal of sweeping up to be done in the Transvaal. |
b. Dragging for something under water: see
sweep v. 17. Also in
mine-sweeping.
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Sweeping, at Sea, signifies dregging along the Ground..with a Three-fluked Grapnel, to find some Hawsar or Cable, which is slipped from an Anchor. 1775 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 50 Out of the various methods of sweeping,..I pursued..the most eligible. 1896 Daily News 14 Nov. 6/7 Her whereabouts were discovered by ‘sweeping’. |
c. Astron.: see
sweep v. 21.
| 1786 Sir W. Herschel Sci. Papers (1912) I. 260 My apparatus..being from time to time adapted to the different views I had in sweeping. 1881 J. W. Webb in Nature 10 Nov. 36/2 It [sc. a star-cluster] may be found without circles, by patient sweeping. |
d. Movement over a surface, or in an extended curve: see
sweep v. 22, 26.
| 1830 Tennyson A Character 16 He spake of virtue..And with a sweeping of the arm,..Devolved his rounded periods. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. ii. i. xii, There is wheeling and sweeping, to slow, to quick and double-quick time. 1853 M. Arnold Church of Brou iii. 43 In the sweeping of the wind your ear The passage of the Angels' wings will hear. |
e. Rowing with sweeps: see
sweep v. 12.
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son xxxii, The sweeps were got out under the hot sun... With what little air there was, and with sweeping, we continued to drop the frigate. |
f. Gunnery. (See
quot.)
| 1907 Bethell Mod. Guns & Gunnery 172 In a wider sense sweeping means distributing fire laterally over a given front. |
g. The formation of a mould with a sweep.
| 1902 Lockwood's Dict. Terms. |
2. a. That which is swept up; matter,
esp. dust or refuse, that is swept together or away.
| † sing. 1480 Cov. Leet Bk. 461 Þat þe people of the Citie carion their Donge, Ramell, & swepyng of their houses. 1541 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 162 To cary all sweppyng of mens howses, and the dyrte that commythe of the sweppyng of the strettes. 1665 in De Foe Plague (Rtldg.) 63 That the Sweeping and Filth of Houses be daily carry'd away by the Rakers. |
| pl. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xiii. 114 The fylthes and swepynges of the hous. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 157 As a beasome gathereth the swepynges of a house. c 1604 Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 180 The markyt corne and markitte swepings was firste geven to this wakeman, 1533. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn, Ode iii, There, sweepings do as well As the best order'd meale. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. i. xxxii. (1848) 92 Gold-smiths and Refiners are wont..carefully to save the very sweepings of their Shops. 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. iii. (ed. 4) 230 At every Brewing after he had strained the Sweepings of his Coolers through a Flannel-bag. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 286 Sweepings of threads, formerly thrown away because the workmen could not unravel them. 1884 Standard 4 Jan. 2/5 Gold leaf, known in the trade as sweepings. |
b. fig. (
pl.) of persons or things, in depreciative sense: Rubbish, riff-raff.
| 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. Wks. 1851 III. 92 Confronting..the sacred verity of Saint Paul with the offalls, and sweepings of antiquity. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 59 The deformed spawn and jail sweepings of great towns. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xi, I wish I had fifty more of the same sort, instead of the sweepings of the gaols. 1878 Stubbs Study Med. & Mod. Hist. viii. (1900) 182 The population [of Armenia] was composed largely of the sweepings of Asia Minor, Christian tribes which had taken refuge in the mountains. |
3. attrib., as
sweeping-brush,
sweeping-day,
sweeping-gear,
sweeping-machine;
sweeping-bar = sweep-bar (
sweep- 1);
sweeping-net = sweep-net;
sweeping-table (
cf. sweep-table,
sweep- 1), a sloping table on which ore is washed by a current of water.
| 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 63 Limbers have the Futchells, Splinter, or *Sweeping-bar, of ash. |
| a 1828 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. (1941) II. 329 Presently a Man enters with a *sweeping brush, to ‘arrange’. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 327 Gob, he'd adorn a sweepingbrush,..if he only had a nurse's apron on him. |
| 1889 M. H. Foote Last Assembly Ball iii. iv, Friday..was general *sweeping-day at Mrs. Dansken's. |
| 1909 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 3/4 Boats..have been sweeping for dummy mines in the Thames estuary. The boats operate in couples, dragging their *sweeping gear between them. [1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Street-sweeping Machine, a cart fitted with revolving brooms, or a rotatory brush and scraper, for cleansing public thoroughfares.] |
| 1899 Daily News 5 Dec. 9/2 It is a *sweeping-machine, and not a cart. |
| 1809 Scott Poacher 77 The fish-spear barb'd, the *sweeping net are there. 1913 Proc. Ashmolean Nat. Hist. Soc. (1914) 39 Insects were somewhat disappointingly scarce, the sweeping-net only producing the large brown Dascillus cervinus, Mantura matthewsi and Meligethes solidus. |
| 1896 Nichols & Franklin Elem. Physics I. xii. 200 A homogeneous substance not in a state of thermal equilibrium undergoes a *sweeping process as the substance settles down to a state of thermal equilibrium. Such a process is absolutely irreversible. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 819 In certain mines of the Hartz, tables called à balais, or *sweeping tables, are employed. |
▪ II. ˈsweeping, ppl. a. [f. as prec. + -ing2.] 1. That sweeps with a broom: also said of the broom.
rare.
| 1611 Cotgr., Balayeuse, a drudge, or sweeping wench. 1671 M. Bruce Gd. News in Evil Times (1708) 14 When his Anger comes with the sweeping Besom of Destruction. |
2. a. Moving forcibly over a surface, etc. so as to clear it; rushing violently; carrying all before it.
| 1611 Bible Prov. xxviii. 3 A poore man that oppresseth the poore, is like a sweeping raine which leaueth no food. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. cxxix, A sweeping torrent that beats down the corn. 1757 Gray Bard 75 Regardless of the sweeping Whirlwind's sway. 1787 Burns Death Sir J. H. Blair xi, She said—and vanish'd with the sweeping blast. 1822 Byron Heaven & Earth ii, The stillness of The untrodden forest, only broken by The sweeping tempest through its groaning boughs. 1830 Cobbett Hist. George IV iii. §142 The French were carrying on a sweeping and successful war upon the continent. |
b. Moving continuously over a surface or through a wide extent; trailing, passing with stately movement.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Feudigr. i. v. 10 All sweeping or floating Waters, which flit and fleete to and fro with wind-catches. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 504 Seeming Stars..shooting through the Darkness, gild the Night With sweeping Glories, and long Trails of Light. ― æneid i. 560 In length of Train descends her sweeping Gown. Ibid. iii. 375 The Seamen ply Their sweeping Oars: the smokeing Billows fly. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock i. 84 Peers, and Dukes, and all their sweeping train. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. (1823) I. 85 As the sweeping swallows stop Their flights along the green. 1859 Habits of Gd. Society iv. (new ed.) 179 For state dinners it [sc. the dress] should be long, and fresh, and sweeping. |
c. transf. of movement or action.
| 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 63 Away the coach drove at a sweeping gallop. 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 26 Richardson was thrown by a half jirk of the hip, followed by a sweeping cross-buttock. 1814 Southey Roderick iii. 419 Looking round with sweeping eyes. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xi, With a sweeping blow, he threw down from a shelf some articles of pewter and earthenware. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 880 The mower begins to make his sweeping cuts. 1864 Even. Standard 26 May, The sweeping action of the Derby horse exciting general admiration. 1879 Morley Burke i. 14 The very boldness and sweeping rapidity of Bolingbroke's prose. 1883 J. Payn Thicker than Water xxxix, Mary made him a sweeping curtsey. |
3. Extending through a long stretch or wide space,
esp. in a curve; having a long curving outline or contour.
| 1772 Mason Eng. Garden i. 11 Where'er she [sc. Nature] takes Her horizontal march, pursue her step With sweeping train of forest. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxii, Emily..winding round the rock saw, within the sweeping bay beyond,..two groups of peasants. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxv, Its stately towers, rising from within a long sweeping line of outward walls. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. vii. ii, Her sweeping tresses snooded by glittering antique fillet. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 185 The sweeping form given to snow by winds. 1888 Morris Dream J. Ball i, The narrow stretch of bright green water-meadows that wind between the sweeping Wiltshire Downs. |
4. fig. Having a wide scope; extensive, comprehensive, all-inclusive; wholesale, indiscriminate.
| 1771 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 276 A general sweeping censure of my whole conduct. 1802 James Milit. Dict., Sweeping, a word which is peculiarly attached to one of the sections or clauses in the Articles of War, namely, the 24th. Hence Sweeping Clause. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. iii. (1869) 56 A sweeping, unqualified assertion ends all controversy. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. v, A sweeping suspicion of female virtue, and a splendid contempt for female intellect. 1858 Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. ii. 125 A sweeping measure of sanitary reform. 1910 Encycl. Brit. III. 38/2 The general election..resulted in a sweeping victory for the Social Democrats. |