Verb

(es)

To surround; to encircle; to environ; to stretch round.

* 1610 , , by (William Shakespeare), act 5 scene 1

Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!

To go about or round entirely; to traverse.

(dated) To accomplish; to reach; to achieve; to obtain.

* 1763 , Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emilius; or, an essay on education , translated by M. Nugent, page 117:

[...] they never find ways sufficient to compass that end.

* 1816 , Catholicon: or, the Christian Philosopher , volume 3, from July to December 1816, page 56:

[...] to settle the end of our action or disputation; and then to take fit and effectual means to compass that end.

* 1857 , Gilbert Burnet, Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time: from the Restoration of King Charles the Second to the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht in the Reign of Queen Anne , page 657:

[...] and was an artful flatterer, when that was necessary to compass his end, in which generally he was successful.

* 1921 November 23, The New Republic , volume 28, number 364, page 2:

The immediate problem is how to compass that end: by the seizure of territory or by the cultivation of the goodwill of the people whose business she seeks.

(dated) To plot; to scheme (against someone).

* 1600', ''The Arraignment and Judgement of Captain Thomas Lee'', published in '''1809 , by R. Bagshaw, in ''Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials , volume 1, page 1403–04:

That he plotted and compassed to raise Sedition and Rebellion [...]

* 1794' November 1, ''Speech of Mr. Erskine in Behalf of Hardy'', published in '''1884 , by Chauncey Allen Goodrich, in ''Select British Eloquence , page 719:

But it went beyond it by the loose construction of compassing to depose the King, [...]

* 1915 , The Wireless Age , volume 2, page 580:

The Bavarian felt a mad wave of desire for her sweep over him. What scheme wouldn't he compass to mould that girl to his wishes.

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