- sweep (v.)
- c.1300, perhaps from a past tense form of Middle English swope "sweep," from Old English swapan "to sweep" (transitive & intransitive); see swoop. Related: Swept; sweeping.
- sweep (n.)
- "range, extent," 1670s, from sweep (v.). In reference to police or military actions, it is attested from 1837. Sense of "a winning of all the tricks in a card game" is from 1814 (see sweepstakes); extended to other sports by 1960. As a shortened form of chimney-sweeper, first attested 1796.