sweep

For the verb: "to sweep"

Simple Past:	swept
Past Participle:	swept

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
sweep/swiːp/

▶verb (sweeps, sweeping; past and past part. swept)

• 1 clean (an area) by brushing away dirt or litter.

  ■ move or remove by brushing.

  ■ move or push with great force.

  ■ (sweep someone/thing away/aside) remove or abolish someone or something swiftly and suddenly.

• 2 search or survey (an area) for something.

  ■ cover (an entire area) with a gun.

• 3 move or traverse swiftly and smoothly.

  ■ affect (a place) swiftly and widely: violence swept the country.

  ■ extend continuously, especially in an arc or curve.

  ■ Cricket hit to the leg side by bringing the bat across the body from a half-kneeling position.

• 4 N. Amer. be victorious in (a series of games).

▶noun

• 1 an act of sweeping.

  ■ a chimney sweep.

• 2 a long, swift, curving movement.

  ■ Electronics the movement of a beam across the screen of a cathode ray tube.

• 3 a long, typically curved stretch of road, river, etc.

• 4 the range or scope of something.

• 5 informal a sweepstake.

• 6 N. Amer. an instance of winning every event, award, or place in a contest.

• 7 a long heavy oar.

• 8 a sail of a windmill.

• 9 a long pole mounted as a lever for raising buckets from a well.

– phrases
sweep the board win every event or prize in a contest.

– origin OE swāpan, of Gmc origin.