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Sweep vs Touch - What's the difference?

sweep | touch | Related terms |

Sweep is a related term of touch.


As verbs the difference between sweep and touch

is that sweep is to clean (a surface) by means of a motion of a broom or brush while touch is primarily physical senses.

As nouns the difference between sweep and touch

is that sweep is the person who steers a dragon boat while touch is an act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.

sweep

English

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

    Derived terms

    * sweeper * sweep across * sweep someone off their feet * sweep something under the rug * sweep up * sweepy

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The person who steers a dragon boat.
  • A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
  • A chimney sweep.
  • A search (typically for bugs [electronic listening devices]).
  • (cricket) A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.
  • A lottery, usually on the results of a sporting event, where players win if their randomly chosen team wins.
  • Jim will win fifty dollars in the office sweep if Japan wins the World Cup.
  • A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.
  • A single action of sweeping.
  • Violent and general destruction.
  • the sweep of an epidemic disease
  • (metalworking) A movable templet for making moulds, in loam moulding.
  • (card games) In the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.
  • The compass of any turning body or of any motion.
  • the sweep''' of a door; the '''sweep of the eye
  • Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • the road which makes a small sweep
  • A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
  • (refining, obsolete) The almond furnace.
  • 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.
  • (in the plural) The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
  • Derived terms

    * chimney sweep * clean sweep * sweepstake

    References

    *

    touch

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • Primarily physical senses.
  • # (label) To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with.
  • # (label) To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect.
  • # (label) To come into physical contact, or to be in physical contact.
  • # (label) To make physical contact with a thing.
  • # (label) To physically disturb; to interfere with, molest, or attempt to harm through contact.
  • #* (Bible), (w) xxvi. 28, 29
  • Let us make a covenant with thee, that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee.
  • # (label) To physically affect in specific ways implied by context.
  • # (label) To consume, or otherwise use.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond
  • # (label) Of a ship or its passengers: to land, to make a short stop (at).
  • #* 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) :
  • Now a certain grand merchant ship once touched at Rokovoko, and its commander — from all accounts, a very stately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain — this commander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg's sister, a pretty young princess just turned of ten.
  • #
  • #* 1971 , , Religion and the Decline of Magic , Folio Society (2012), page 189:
  • But in fact the English kings of the seventeenth century usually began to touch form the day of their accession, without waiting for any such consecration.
  • #
  • # To fasten; to take effect; to make impression.
  • #* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Strong waters pierce metals, and will touch' upon gold, that will not ' touch upon silver.
  • # (label) To bring (a sail) so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
  • # To be brought, as a sail, so close to the wind that its weather leech shakes.
  • # (label) To keep the ship as near (the wind) as possible.
  • Primarily non-physical senses.
  • # (label) To imbue or endow with a specific quality.
  • #
  • #*, I.2.4.vii:
  • Next to sorrow still I may annex such accidents as procure fear; for besides those terrors which I have before touched ,which much trouble many of us.
  • # (label) To deal with in speech or writing; briefly to speak or write (on'' or ''upon something).
  • #* 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde)
  • "Well, but since we have touched upon this business, and for the last time I hope," continued the doctor, "there is one point I should like you to understand."
  • # (label) To concern, to have to do with.
  • #* 1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) V:
  • Men of Israhell take hede to youreselves what ye entende to do as touchinge these men.
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • #* 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Penance’, The Toys of Peace , Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), p. 423:
  • And now it seemed he was engaged in something which touched them closely, but must be hidden from their knowledge.
  • # (label) To affect emotionally; to bring about tender or painful feelings in.
  • #
  • #
  • # (label) To obtain money from, usually by borrowing (from a friend).
  • #
  • # (label) To be on the level of; to approach in excellence or quality.
  • #* 1928 , , "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in (Lord Peter Views the Body) ,
  • There was his mistress, Maria Morano. I don't think I've ever seen anything to touch her, and when you work for the screen [as I do] you're apt to have a pretty exacting standard of female beauty.
  • #* 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
  • On Sunday afternoon it was as dark as night, with barely room for two riders abreast on a gradient that touches 20%.
  • # To mark (a file or document) as having been modified.
  • To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I mean to touch your love indeed.
  • To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • The lines, though touched but faintly, are drawn right.
  • (label) To infect; to affect slightly.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • To strike; to manipulate; to play on.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • [They] touched their golden harps.
  • To perform, as a tune; to play.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • A person in the royal retinue touched a light and lively air on the flageolet.
  • To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • No decree of mine,[to] touch with lightest moment of impulse his free will.

    Derived terms

    * touch a nerve * touch base * touch bottom * touch down * touch off * touch on * touch the hem of someone's garment * touch up * touch wood

    Noun

    (es)
  • An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
  • Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
  • The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
  • With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
  • The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.
  • He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch .
  • A distinguishing feature or characteristic.
  • Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.
  • A little bit; a small amount.
  • Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Madam, I have a touch of your condition.
  • The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.
  • He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch .
  • A relationship of close communication or understanding.
  • He promised to keep in touch while he was away.
  • The ability to perform a task well; aptitude.
  • I used to be a great chess player but I've lost my touch .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 29 , author=Jon Smith , title=Tottenham 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Rovers' hopes of pulling off one of the great European shocks of all time lasted just 10 minutes before Spurs finally found their scoring touch .}}
  • Act or power of exciting emotion.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Not alone / The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches , / Do strongly speak to us.
  • An emotion or affection.
  • * Hooker
  • a true, natural, and a sensible touch of mercy
  • Personal reference or application.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Speech of touch toward others should be sparingly used.
  • A single stroke on a drawing or a picture.
  • * Dryden
  • Never give the least touch with your pencil till you have well examined your design.
  • A brief essay.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch .
  • A touchstone; hence, stone of the sort used for touchstone.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Now do I play the touch .
  • * Fuller
  • a neat new monument of touch and alabaster
  • Examination or trial by some decisive standard; test; proof; tried quality.
  • * Carew
  • equity, the true touch of all laws
  • * Shakespeare
  • friends of noble touch
  • The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.
  • a heavy touch''', or a light '''touch
  • The broadest part of a plank worked top and but, or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters.
  • The children's game of tag.
  • Derived terms

    * common touch * in touch * light touch * lose one's touch * lose touch * out of touch * soft touch * touch football * touch-kick * touchless * touch oneself * touch-paper * touch piece * touch-type

    Statistics

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