sweep (redirected from sweeps)

a clean sweep

if you make a clean sweep, you win a competition or an election very easily or you win all the prizes in a competition. China's women divers achieved a clean sweep in yesterday's competitions. Analysts are predicting a clean sweep for the ruling party in the forthcoming elections.

See also: clean

sweep someone off their feet

if someone sweeps you off your feet, you fall suddenly and completely in love with them. She was hoping that some glamorous young Frenchman would come along and sweep her off her feet.

See also: feet

sweep the board (British)

to win all the prizes or votes in a competition or an election. Her latest film swept the boards at last night's cinema awards. The liberals look set to sweep the board in the local elections.

See also: board

sweep something under the carpet (British, American & Australian, American & Australian)

to try to hide a problem or keep a problem secret instead of dealing with it. The incident has forced into the open an issue that the government would rather have swept under the carpet. The evidence was on film and the police couldn't just sweep it under the rug.

See also: carpet

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sweep away something

1. to get rid of something. You will have to sweep away all your anger in order to improve your relations with your family. There was almost no wind to sweep the smog away.

2. to destroy something. The decision to close the lab meant that twenty years' work was swept away in a moment. Francis spent his last few years at home, until heart failure swept him away.

See also: away

sweep someone off their feet

to cause someone to fall suddenly and completely in love with you. You kind of expect to get swept off your feet on Valentine's Day.

See also: feet

sweep something under the carpet

to hide something embarrassing. The problem is usually ignored or swept under the carpet.

See also: carpet

sweep something under the rug

to hide something embarrassing. The scandal was swept under the rug because of the important people involved in it.

See also: rug