sweep (swep)

[Early mod. E. also swepe; = OHG. MHG. sweif, G. schweif, a ramble, = Icel. sveipr, a fold, swoop, twirl; from the verb.] 1. The act of sweeping; the act of effecting something by means of a sweeping or clearing out force; hence, wholesale change or removal. Here has been a great sweep of employments, and we expect still more removals. Swift , Journal to Stella, xlix. The hope that the few remaining hundreds of the aborigines might be captured in one sweep .