Verb

(en verb)

To glide along without adding energy.

When I ran out of gas, fortunately I managed to coast into a nearby gas station.

(nautical) To sail along a coast.

* Arbuthnot

The ancients coasted only in their navigation.

Applied to human behavior, to make a minimal effort, to continue to do something in a routine way. This implies lack of initiative and effort.

* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, " Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk

Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties.

(obsolete) To draw near to; to approach; to keep near, or by the side of.

* Shakespeare

Anon she hears them chant it lustily, / And all in haste she coasteth to the cry.

(Hakluyt)

(obsolete) To sail by or near; to follow the coastline of.

* Sir Thomas Browne

Nearchus, not knowing the compass, was fain to coast that shore.

(obsolete) To conduct along a coast or river bank.

* Hakluyt

The Indians coasted me along the river.

(US, dialect) To slide downhill; to slide on a sled upon snow or ice.

Verb

To clean (a surface) by means of a motion of a broom or brush.

to sweep a floor, the street, or a chimney

* (Bible), (w) xiv. 23

I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.

To move through an (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.

* 2005 , (Lesley Brown) (translator), Sophist by (Plato), :

[H]as the course of the argument so accustomed you to agreeing that you were swept by it into a ready assent?

To search (a place) methodically.

(figuratively) To travel quickly.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=February 1, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Arsenal 2-1 Everton , passage=Everton took that disputed lead in a moment that caused anger to sweep around the Emirates. }}

(cricket) To play a sweep shot.

(curling) To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.

(ergative) To move something in a particular motion, as a broom.

(sports) To win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.

(sports) To defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.

To remove something abruptly and thoroughly.

The wind sweeps the snow from the hills.

The flooded river swept away the wooden dam.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington

, volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}

To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

Their long descending train, / With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain.

*

Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.

To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

And like a peacock sweep along his tail.

To strike with a long stroke.

* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

Wake into voice each silent string, / And sweep the sounding lyre.

(nautical) To draw or drag something over.

to sweep the bottom of a river with a net

To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.

to sweep the heavens with a telescope