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

(label) To lengthen by pulling.

(label) To lengthen when pulled.

* Boyle

The inner membrane because it would stretch and yield, remained unbroken.

(label) To pull tight.

To get more use than expected from a limited resource.

To make inaccurate by exaggeration.

(label) To extend physically, especially from limit point to limit point.

* , chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,

To extend one’s limbs or another part of the body in order to improve the elasticity of one's muscles

(label) To extend to a limit point

(label) To increase.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Neil Johnston, work=BBC Sport

, title= Norwich 3-3 Blackburn , passage=Yakubu took advantage of John Ruddy's error to put the visitors back in front, with Chris Samba's header stretching their advantage.}}

To stretch the truth; to exaggerate.

a man apt to stretch in his report of facts

(label) To sail by the wind under press of canvas.

The ship stretched to the eastward.