What does "sweep" mean?

Additional senses

1. 2.I have already swept the stakes. Dryden.
2. 3.To brush against or over; to rub lightly along. Their long descending train, With rubies edged and sapphires, swept the plain. Dryden.
3. 4.To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion. And like a peacock sweep along his tail. Shak.
4. 5.To strike with a long stroke. Wake into voice each silent string, And sweep the sounding lyre. Pope.
5. 6.(Naut.) To draw or drag something over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net.
6. 7.To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation; as, to sweep the heavens with a telescope. To sweep, or sweep up, a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.
7. 8.To clean rooms, yards, etc., or to clear away dust, dirt, litter, etc., with a broom, brush, or the like.
8. 9.To brush swiftly over the surface of anything; to pass with switness and force, as if brushing the surface of anything; to move in a stately manner; as, the wind sweeps across the plain; a woman sweeps through a drawing-room.
9. 10.To pass over anything comprehensively; to range through with rapidity; as, his eye sweeps through space.
10. 11.The act of sweeping.
11. 12.The compass or range of a stroke; as, a long sweep.
12. 13.The compass of any turning body or of any motion; as, the sweep of a door; the sweep of the eye.
13. 14.The compass of anything flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away everything within its sweep.
14. 15.Violent and general destruction; as, the sweep of an epidemic disease.
15. 16.Direction and extent of any motion not rectlinear; as, the sweep of a compass.
16. 17.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.
17. 18.One who sweeps; a sweeper; specifically, a chimney sweeper.
18. 19.(Founding) A movable templet for making molds, in loam molding.
19. 20.(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.
20. 21.(Refining) The almond furnace. [Obs.]
21. 22.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.]
22. 23.(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.
23. 24.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.