sweeps 
sweeps (swrpsj. a. jil. Tin- arms ol' a mill. 
lliill.nn-ll. | I'rov. Kiu,'. | 
sweep-saw (swep'sa), . A saw with ;t thin 
blade in a frame or bow, capable nf cuttine; in a 
sweep or curve; a bow-saw or turning-saw. 
sweep-seine (swep'san i. . A laiw seine for 
milking a wide sweep in drawing. 
sweep-seining (swep'sa,'iiin<, r ), . The act or 
process of sweeping a not, paid out from the 
stern of a boat, which describes a circle start- 
in"; from ami rtiirning to the shore, .me- end 
of the. ro|ic belli;; left on shore ami the other 
brought in by I lie boat. The net is then hauled 
in by the men on shore. 
sweepstake i swcp'stak). . | < *< <, v., + obj. 
xtnl;r-.\ If. A game of curds, in which appar- 
ently a player could take all the tricks or win 
all the stakes. 
To play at sweepstake, and take all together. 
lli'itliii, Hist. Presbyterians, p. 431). (Latham.) 
2. Hauie as sw<'< i>xt<il;<*, TO make sweepstaket, 
to innke a clean sweep. 
II the poneand his prelates were charitable, they would, 
I trow, make itmep-stake at once with purgatory. 
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., ISM), II. 202. 
sweepstake (swep'stak), arfr. [An elliptical 
use of HtMfttats, .] By winning and taking 
all the stakes at onee ; hence, by wholesale ; in- 
discriminatelv. 
sweepstakes (swep'staks), n, siny. or pi. 1. 
A gamine; transaction, in which a number of 
persons contribute a certain stake, which be- 
comes the property of one or of several of the 
contributors under certain conditions. Thus, in 
horse-racing each of the contributors has a horse assigned 
to him (usually by lotX and the person to whom the win- 
ning horse is assigned takes the whole stakes, or the stakes 
may be divided between two or three who draw the drat 
two or three horses in the race. 
There was a general notion that a sweepstake* differed 
from a lottery in that the winner swept away the whole of 
the stakes (hence the name), whereas in a lottery the per- 
son who held the bank made a large profit. . . . This dis- 
tinction existed in theory rather than in fact, and . . . 
the smepttake* were declared illegal as lotteries by a de- 
cision of the courts in 1845. 
nineteenth Century, XXVI. 842. 
2. A prize in a horse-race or other contest, 
made up of several stakes. 3t. Same as sweep- 
stake, 1. 4. A race for all the stakes contrib- 
uted, sometimes with money added. 
The Time Test Stakes is a sweepstakes for all ages at 
three quarters of a mile, with $1,250 added. 
New York Evening Post, June 28, 1889. 
sweep-washer (swep'wosh'er), . In gold- and 
silver^refining, a person who extracts from the 
sweepings, potsherds, etc., the small particles 
of gold or sflver contained in them, 
sweep-washings (swep'wosh'ingz), . pi. The 
refuse or sweepings of gold- and silver-work- 
ing shops. E. H. Knight. 
sweepy(swe'pi), a. [< sweep + -yi.] 1. Bend- 
ing or swaying; sweeping. 
They [the waters], . . . 
. . . rushing onwards with a sweepy sway, 
Bear flocks, and folds, and lab'ring hinds away. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., 1. 395. 
A sweepy garment, vast and white. 
Browning, Christmas Eve. 
2. Protuberant; bulging; strutting. 
Behold their swelling dugs, the sweepy weight 
(If ewes that sink beneath their milky freight. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid. 
3. Curving ; having long bends or turns. 
And its fair river gleaming in the light, 
With all Its neeepu windings. ./. BaUKe. 
sweer (swer), a. [Also swear, Sc. siceir; < ME. 
xiri'i; snare, < AS. swier, swar, heavy. = OS. war 
= OFries. swere = D. ewaar = MLG. swar = 
OHG. swar, strdri, MHG. swiere, Q. sell irer = Icel. 
i-rr = Sw. xr&r = Dan. svier = Goth, steers, 
heavy, = Lith. ftwarus, heavy.] 1. Heavy. 
2. Dull; indolent; lazy. 3. Reluctant; un- 
willing. [Prov. Eng. or Scotch in all senses.] 
sweet (swet), a. and . [< ME. swete, suete.sweote, 
also swote, soot, soote, sote,< AS. swete = ONorth. 
stcoete, sifote = OS. swott, suoti = OFries. siret = 
MD. sort, I). :oct MLG. sote, sutc, LG. sote, 
sot = OHG. si>:i. xini(i:i, MHG. sueze, G. siiss 
= Icel. we/;- (xu'lr) = Sw. siit = Dan. sod = Goth. 
*su'6tus,snts = L. siiuris (for "tuadvis) = Gr. iJiU'C 
= Skt. sriitlit, sweet; from a root seen in Gr. 
r/ifeo&u, be pleased, i^orf/, pleasure, dvodvciv, 
please, Skt. / xrad, srdd, be savory, make sa- 
vory, take pleasure. From the L. adj. is the E. 
MOM, wit h its derivatives, also xiinilr, dissuade, 
c, etc., xHanion, ttuitsive; from the Gr., 
it, l<l<ii<lxt, etc.~] I. a. 1. Pleasing to 
t he taste ; having a pleasant taste or flavor like 
that of sugar or honey; also, having a fresh, 
(11(17 
natural ta~te, a* diM infjui.-hcil from a taste 
that is stale, sour, or rancid. 
u :i* In ill ;md ale suete, 
1 MI i irhr in. ii ther cte. 
/;/,...; ii'.r,, ii:. r.. T. s.\ l. li'iT. 
The! [apples] ben righte merit and of godc Sav.mr. 
MandemUe, Traveli, p. 49. 
Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape 
Crush 'd the twee t poison of misused wine. 
Milton, Comas, L 47. 
2. Pleasing to the smell ; fragrant; perfumed. 
Burn strret wood to make the lodging sweet. 
Shak., T. of the 8., In. I., L, 49. 
The wind of May 
lltmet with breath of orchnnl 
Bryant, Among the Trees. 
3. Pleasing to the ear; making agreeable music: 
musical; soft; melodious; harmonious: as, a 
sweet singer; a sweet song. 
And there a noyse alluring sleepe soft trembled, 
Of manie accords more siceete than Mermaids song. 
Spenter, Visions of Bellay, 1. 102. 
Sweet Instruments hung up in cases. 
Shot., T. of A., L 2. 102. 
Sweet was thy song, but tweeter now 
Thy carol on the leafless bough. 
0. W. llulmes, An Old- Year Song. 
4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; attractive; 
charming. 
Thou hast the tweeteit face I ever look'd on. 
Shot., Hen. VIII., Iv. 1. 43. 
I went to see the palace and gardens of Chevereux, a 
siceete place. Krelyn, Diary, June 28, 1644. 
I forgot to tell you of a sweet house which Mr. Montagu 
carried me to see. Walpulr, Letters, II. 349. 
The sweetest little Inkstand and mother-of-pearl blot- 
ting-book, which Becky used when she composed her 
charming little pink notes. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Iv. 
5. Pleasing, agreeable, grateful, or soothing to 
the mind or emotional nature; exciting pleas- 
ant or agreeable feelings; charming; delight- 
ful ; attractive ; hence, dearly loved ; precious. 
And [they] asketh leue and lycence at Londun to dwelle, 
To singe ther for simonye for seiner Is swete. 
Jters Plowman (AX Prol., L b3. 
Aprille with false shoures Mote. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 1. 
Canst thou bind them<rt influences of Pleiades? 
Job \\xviii. 31. 
ar her 
2. 893. 
The merry month of June, the sweetest month In all the 
year. Irmng, Knickerbocker, p. 147. 
But the high soul burns on to light men's feet 
Where death for noble ends makes dying tweet. 
Lowell, Memorise Posltum. 
6. Gracious; kind; amiable: as, sweet man- 
ners: formerly often used as a term of com- 
plimentary address : as. sweet sir. 
Young I know she was, 
Tender, and sweet in her obedience. 
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, tit 2. 
Give, if thou canst, an almes ; if not, afford, 
Instead of that, a mreet and gentle word. 
Uerrick, Almes. 
7. Free from sour or otherwise excessive taste. 
Chymists oftentimes term the calces of metals and other 
bodies dulcitled, if they be freed from all corrosive salts 
and sharpness of taste, sweet, though they have nothing 
at all of positive sweetness. 
Boyle, Origin of Forms, t II. Exp. 4. 
8. Fresh ; not salt or salted. 
Than the waters whereof [the Nile) there is none more 
sweet, . . . and of all others most wholesome. . . . Such 
it is in being so concocted by the Sun. 
Sandys, Travalles, p. 78. 
The sails are drunk with showers, and drop with rain ; 
Swtrt waters mingle with the briny main. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 156. 
9. Being in a sound or wholesome state; not 
sour or spoiled ; not putrescent or putrid : as, 
sweet meat. 
At the fote of this mounte is the fountayne yt Helyseus 
helyd and made suete with puttynge in of salte and holy 
wordes in the name of Almyghty God. 
Sir K. Quyywde, Pylgrymage, p. 43. 
I could heartily wish their Summer cleanliness was as 
great ; it is certainly as necessary to keep so populous a 
City sweet. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 24. 
This is the salt unto humanity, 
And keeps it sweet. 
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid In the Mill, iv. 2. 
10. In archery, of a bow, soft in flexure and 
recoil. See the last quotation underpin rti/iv/t. 
A sweet tooth. See tooth. Sweet acorn, almond, 
alyssum, amber, ash, balm. See the nouns. Sweet 
balsam, see oalsam-weed. Sweet basil, birch, 
broomweed, buckeye, calabash, cassava, chervil, 
chestnut, cicely, elder. See the nouns. - Sweet cala- 
mus, sweet cane. Same as calamus, 2. Sweet cistus, 
the shrub Cixtiix rillmmf. Sweet Clover. See Mrlilatw. 
Sweet coltsfoot. See coft/<x><. Sweet corn, a vari- 
ety of maize of a sweet tlnvnr, preferred for eating green. 
Sweet cumin, cypress, dock, fennel. See the nouns. 
I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for 
suvet love three years. Shot., L. L. L., v. 2. 
sweet-bay 
Sweet fucus. same a ura-iirit. - Sweet glove', i i-i 
filnifil Klovc t ;in> *4it ; a Jib lane i >l ten oeeiiii ijiu in M-lieil- 
uleji, C.U:., of the hivtceiith und -e\. nl. . nth rentillies. 
I'., Iv. 4. 222. 
Sweet goldenrod BM KJittayo . sweet gum. See 
ywwi2, and compare ntvfi-^inm. Sweet herbs, fragrant 
herbs cultivate.! fm riilin:u> purposes, as thyme and sweet 
in.iij'iraiii. Sweet horsemlnt, lemon, marjoram, 
maudlin. See the nouns. -Sweet locust. M 
honey-locust. - Sweet marten, the p: \iiwteta 
martes: apparently so calleil n nii>;ui^ia with/"" 
ten, tiie (.mi nun t or polecat li'.ng.)- Sweet mountain- 
fern. See iMstrra. Sweet oleander. s< 
Sweet Orange, the eimmi'.ii an oppOMd '" 'he liltter or 
Seville orange. Sweet pea. Stu ;ii. -Sweet pep- 
per-bush. N " i'/,i/, r ,i. Sweet pine-sap. See. 
nittia. Sweet pishamin ./t. Sweetplum. 
See Owenia. Sweet potato, precipitate, sack), sca- 
bious, shrub. See the nouns.- Sweet sedge. Sameu 
tweet-jt,!:! Sweet spirit of niter. 
ether, under nitruus. Sweet stuff, enn I. 
[Colloq., Great Britain.] 
The sieeet-stvf maker (I never heard them called con- 
fectioners) bought his "paper' of the stationers, or at 
the old book-shops. 
Mai/heir, London Labour and London Poor, I. 216. 
Sweet sultan. See sultan, 4. Sweet tea. See SmUax, 
i. Sweet tincture of rhubarb. BMUiudm. Sweet 
vernal-gTaSS. See vernal <jra*, under veriuil. Sweet 
viburnum. Same as sheepberry, 1. Sweet violet, 
woodruff. See the nouns. To be sweet on or upon, 
to be in love with ; have an especial fondness for. |<'ol- 
loq.] 
That Missis is nctet enough upon you, Master, to sell 
herself up, slap, to get you out of trouble. 
Dickens. Our Mutual Friend, iv. 15. 
Syn. 1. Luscious, sugary, honeyed. 2. Redolent, balmy. 
3. Dulcet. 8. Engaging, winning, lovely. 6. Lovable. 
II. . 1. The quality of being sweet; sweet- 
ness. 
Their [mulberries'] taste does not so generally please, 
being of a faintlsh street, without any tartness. 
Bevtrley, Virginia, iv. t IS. 
It seems tolerably well established that sweet and sour 
are tasted chiefly with the tip of the tongue. 
0. T. Ladd, Physlol. Psychology, p. 313. 
It Is but for a moment, comparatively, that anything 
looks strange or startling : a truth that has the bitter and 
the neeet in It Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xvi. 
2. Something sweet to the taste : used chiefly 
in the plural. 
The fly that sips treacle Is lost In the tweets. 
Oay, Beggars' Opera, il. 2. 
From pin pie violets and the telle they bring 
Their gathered tweets, and rifle all the spring. 
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 
(a) Confections ; bonbons : as, he brought a box of sweets 
for the children. (6) Sweet dishes served at table, as pud- 
dings, tarts, creams, or jellies : as, a course of m-eet* pre- 
ceded fruit and coffee, (e) Home-made fermented or un- 
fermented liquors, as meads or metheglin. 
3. That which is pleasant to the sense of 
smell ; a perfume. 
Whence didst thou [violet] steal thy smel that smells, 
If not from my love s breath? Shot., Sonnets, xclx. 
4. Something pleasing or grateful to the mind, 
heart, or desires : as, the sicectn of domestic life ; 
the streets of office. 
Sweets grown common lose their dear delight 
Shak., Sonnets, cil. 
It was at Streatham that she tasted, In the highest per- 
fection, the sweets of flattery, mingled with the tweets of 
friendship. Maeaulay, Mine. D'Arblay. 
5. One who is dear to another; a darling: a 
word of endearment. 
Wherefore frowns my tweet t B. Jonson, Catiline, L 1. 
SWeett (swet), v, t. [< ME. sieeten, < AS. swetaii 
(= OHG. suozan), < swete, sweet: see sweet, a.] 
To make sweet ; sweeten. 
She with face and voice 
So tweets my pains that my pains me rejoice. 
.Sir P. Sidney ( Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 631). 
Heaven's tones 
Strike not such mnslck to immortall soulcs 
As your accordance sweetes my breast withal). 
tfarston, Antonio and Mellida, II., ill. :t. 
sweet (swet), adv. [< ME. sireete; < street, a.] 
Sweetly ; in a sweet manner ; so as to be sweet. 
He kiste hire sireete and taketh his sawtrie. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, I. 119. 
To roast sweet, in metal., to roast thoroughly. 
SWeet-and-twenty (swet'and-twen'ti), . Both 
attractive and young: a Shaksperian term of 
endearment. 
Then come kiss me, swcet-and-twenty, 
Youth 's a stuff will not endure. 
Shall., T. N., II. 3. 52. 
sweet-apple (swet'ap'l), w. 1. A sweet-fla- 
vored apple. 2. Same as sireet-*<>j>. 
sweet-ballt, A sweetmeat. 
This sweet-Ball, 
Take it to cheere your heart. 
Heywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 130). 
sweet-bay (swet'ba), n. 1. The noble or vic- 
tor's laurel, Lauras imhili--, which is also the 
