Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sweep \Sweep\, n.
   1. The act of sweeping.

   2. The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep.

   3. The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the
      sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.

   4. The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood
      carried away everything within its sweep.

   5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an
      epidemic disease.

   6. Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the
      sweep of a compass.

   7. Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, or the
      like, away from a rectlinear line.

            The road which makes a small sweep.   --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   8. One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney
      sweeper.

   9. (Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam
      molding.

   10. (Naut.)
       (a) The mold of a ship when she begins to curve in at the
           rungheads; any part of a ship shaped in a segment of
           a circle.
       (b) A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel
           them and partly to steer them.

   11. (Refining) The almond furnace. [Obs.]

   12. 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. [Variously written
       {swape}, {sweep}, {swepe}, and {swipe}.]

   13. (Card Playing) In the game of casino, a pairing or
       combining of all the cards on the board, and so removing
       them all; in whist, the winning of all the tricks
       (thirteen) in a hand; a slam.

   14. pl. The sweeping of workshops where precious metals are
       worked, containing filings, etc.

   {Sweep net}, a net for drawing over a large compass.

   {Sweep of the tiller} (Naut.), a circular frame on which the
      tiller traverses.