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

Verb

(skimm)

To pass lightly; to glide along in an even, smooth course; to glide along near the surface.

* Alexander Pope

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, / Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.

To pass near the surface of; to brush the surface of; to glide swiftly along the surface of.

* Hazlitt

Homer describes Mercury as flinging himself from the top of Olympus, and skimming the surface of the ocean.

To hasten along with superficial attention.

* I. Watts

They skim over a science in a very superficial survey.

To put on a finishing coat of plaster.

to throw an object so it bounces on water (skimming stones )

to ricochet

to read quickly, skipping some detail

I skimmed the newspaper over breakfast.

to scrape off; to remove (something) from a surface

to clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying on it, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface.

to skim''' milk; to '''skim broth

to clear a liquid from (scum or substance floating or lying on it), especially the cream that floats on top of fresh milk

to skim cream