DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 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. (a) 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. (b) 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.
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