Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SWEEP, n.

1. The act of sweeping.
2. The compass of a stroke; as, a long sweep.
3. The compass of any turning body or motion; as, the sweep of a door.
4. The compass of any thing flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away every thing within its sweep.
5. Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease. – Graunt.
6. Direction of any motion not rectilinear; as, the sweep a compass.
7. The mold of a ship when she begins to compass in, at the rung heads; also, any part of a ship shaped by the segment of a circle; as, a floor-sweep; a back-sweep, &c.
8. Among refiners of metals, the almond-furnace.
9. Among stamen, a large oar, used to assist the rudder in turning a ship in a calm, or to increase her velocity in a chase, &c.
10. The pole or piece of timber moved on a fulcrum or post, used to raise and lower a bucket in a well for drawing water; written by Bailey, swipe; and in Yorkshire, Eng., swape. Sweep of the tiller, a circular frame on which the tiller traverses in large ships.