sweep.html - See: NEW BROOM SWEEPS CLEAN.

sweep.html - {v. phr.} To make (someone) have feelings (as love or happiness) too strong to control; overcome with strong feeling; win sudden and complete acceptance by (someone) through the feelings. * /The handsome football captain swept Joan off her feet when he said so many things to her at the dance./ * /Joan was swept off her feet when the football captain started flirting with her./ * /Mary is swept off her feet whenever she hears a band start playing./ * /John was swept off his feet when he won the contest./ Compare: BOWL OVER (2), CARRY AWAY.

sweep.html - {v. phr.} To leave in an impressive, majestic manner. * /Offended by Tim's remark, Mary swept out of the room with her head high in the air./

sweep.html - {v. phr.} To hide or dismiss casually (something one is ashamed of or does not know what to do about). * /In many places, drug abuse by school children is swept under the rug./

sweep.html - noun ( Lifestyle and Leisure) In the US, a survey of the popularity of radio and television shows, especially for the Nielsen index of popularity ratings; often in the plural, as the sweeps: the designated times during the year when these surveys are carried out. Etymology: A specialized use of sweep in its established figurative sense of 'a comprehensive search or pass over something'. History and Usage: The Nielsen rating system for radio and television programmes in the US dates from the early fifties, but the practice of carrying out a sweep during particular weeks of the year (called a sweep week) does not seem to have started until the seventies. In the second half of the seventies and the eighties, there was considerable public interest in the sweeps, especially since certain channels appeared to be putting on the best and most popular shows at this time (a practice which is actually against the rules, but difficult to prove). Channel 7...dominated the local Nielsen news ratings during the May 'sweeps'. New York Times 2 June 1982, section C, p.
26 Demographic ratings for children 2 to 11 will not be available until after the November sweeps. Advertising Age 10 Nov. 1986, p. 32

sweep.html - v. & n.
--v.

(past and past part. swept)
1 tr. clean or clear (a room or area etc.) with or as with a broom.
2 intr. (often foll. by up) clean a room etc. in this way.
3 tr. (often foll. by up) collect or remove (dirt or litter etc.) by sweeping.
4 tr. (foll. by aside, away, etc.) a push with or as with a broom. b dismiss or reject abruptly (their objections were swept aside).
5 tr. (foll. by along, down, etc.) carry or drive along with force.
6 tr. (foll. by off, away, etc.) remove or clear forcefully.
7 tr. traverse swiftly or lightly (the wind swept the hillside).
8 tr. impart a sweeping motion to (swept his hand across).
9 tr. swiftly cover or affect (a new fashion swept the country).
10 intr. a glide swiftly; speed along with unchecked motion. b go majestically.
11 intr. (of geographical features etc.) have continuous extent.
12 tr. drag (a river-bottom etc.) to search for something.
13 tr. (of artillery etc.) include in the line of fire; cover the whole of.
14 tr. propel (a barge etc.) with sweeps.

--n.

1 the act or motion or an instance of sweeping.
2 a curve in the road, a sweeping line of a hill, etc.
3 range or scope (beyond the sweep of the human mind).
4 = chimney-sweep.
5 a sortie by aircraft.
6 colloq. = SWEEPSTAKE.
7 a long oar worked from a barge etc.
8 the sail of a windmill.
9 a long pole mounted as a lever for raising buckets from a well.
10 Electronics the movement of a beam across the screen of a cathode-ray tube.

make a clean sweep of 1 completely abolish or expel.
2 win all the prizes etc. in (a competition etc.). sweep away 1 abolish swiftly.
2 (usu. in passive) powerfully affect, esp. emotionally. sweep the board 1 win all the money in a gambling-game.
2 win all possible prizes etc. sweep-second hand a second hand on a clock or watch, moving on the same dial as the other hands. sweep under the carpet see CARPET . swept-back (of an aircraft wing) fixed at an acute angle to the fuselage, inclining outwards towards the rear. swept-up (of hair) = UPSWEPT. swept-wing (of an aircraft) having swept-back wings. [ME swepe (earlier swope) f. OE swapan]