different between waft vs sweep
waft
English
Etymology
From Middle English waften, of uncertain origin. Possibly from unattested Old English *wafettan, from wafian (“to wave”) +? -ettan, or perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch wachten (“to guard, provide for”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: w?ft
- (General American) IPA(key): /w?ft/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /w?ft/
- (Received Pronunciation, dated) IPA(key): /w??ft/
- (Regional American) IPA(key): /wæft/
- Rhymes: -?ft
Verb
waft (third-person singular simple present wafts, present participle wafting, simple past and past participle wafted)
- (ergative) To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
- (intransitive) To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
- 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: [s.n.], OCLC 497010563, Act III, scene i; republished as “Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy”, in Walter Scott, editor, The Works of John Dryden, now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Walter Scott, Esq., volume V, London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle Street, by James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh, 1808, OCLC 317070632, page 226:
- Unhappy Aureng-Zebe is in disgrace; / And your Morat, proclaimed the successor, / Is called, to awe the city with his power. / Those trumpets his triumphant entry tell, / And now the shouts waft near the citadel.
- 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: [s.n.], OCLC 497010563, Act III, scene i; republished as “Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy”, in Walter Scott, editor, The Works of John Dryden, now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes. Illustrated with Notes, Historical, Critical, and Explanatory, and a Life of the Author, by Walter Scott, Esq., volume V, London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle Street, by James Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh, 1808, OCLC 317070632, page 226:
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
Translations
Noun
waft (plural wafts)
- A light breeze.
- Something (such as an odor or scent like a perfume) that is carried through the air.
- (nautical) A flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal; a waif, a wheft.
Translations
References
waft From the web:
- what waft mean
- what was the egg down the fallopian tube
- what waft in french
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sweep
English
Etymology
From Middle English swepen, and perhaps from Old English sw?op, the past tense form of Old English sw?pan, from Proto-West Germanic *swaipan, from Proto-Germanic *swaipan?. Cognate with Early Modern West Frisian swiepe (“whip, cleanse, sweep”), from Old Frisian sw?pa, suepa (“sweep”). See also swoop.
Pronunciation
- enPR: sw?p, IPA(key): /swi?p/
- Rhymes: -i?p
Verb
sweep (third-person singular simple present sweeps, present participle sweeping, simple past and past participle swept)
- (transitive) To clean (a surface) by means of a stroking motion of a broom or brush.
- I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
- (intransitive) To move through a (horizontal) arc or similar long stroke.
- 2005, Lesley Brown (translator), Sophist by Plato, 236d:
- [H]as the course of the argument so accustomed you to agreeing that you were swept by it into a ready assent?
- 2005, Lesley Brown (translator), Sophist by Plato, 236d:
- (transitive) To search (a place) methodically.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To travel quickly.
- (cricket) To play a sweep shot.
- (curling) To brush the ice in front of a moving stone, causing it to travel farther and to curl less.
- (transitive, ergative) To move something in a long sweeping motion, as a broom.
- (sports, transitive) To win (a series) without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
- (sports, transitive) To defeat (a team) in a series without drawing or losing any of the games in that series.
- (transitive) To remove something abruptly and thoroughly.
- To brush against or over; to rub lightly along.
- Their long descending train, / With rubies edg'd and sapphires, swept the plain.
- Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
- To carry with a long, swinging, or dragging motion; hence, to carry in a stately or proud fashion.
- To strike with a long stroke.
- (rowing) To row with one oar to either the port or starboard side.
- (nautical) To draw or drag something over.
- To pass over, or traverse, with the eye or with an instrument of observation.
- (US, regional, including Ohio and Indiana) to vacuum a carpet or rug
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
sweep (plural sweeps)
- A single action of sweeping.
- The person who steers a dragon boat.
- A person who stands at the stern of a surf boat, steering with a steering oar and commanding the crew.
- A chimney sweep.
- A methodical search, typically for bugs (electronic listening devices).
- (cricket) A batsman's shot, played from a kneeling position with a swinging horizontal bat.
- A lottery, usually on the results of a sporting event, where players win if their randomly chosen team wins.
- A flow of water parallel to shore caused by wave action at an ocean beach or at a point or headland.
- (martial arts) A throw or takedown that primarily uses the legs to attack an opponent's legs.
- Violent and general destruction.
- (metalworking) A movable templet for making moulds, in loam moulding.
- (card games) In the game casino, the act of capturing all face-up cards from the table.
- The compass of any turning body or of any motion.
- Direction or departure of a curve, a road, an arch, etc. away from a rectilinear line.
- A large oar used in small vessels, partly to propel them and partly to steer them.
- (rowing) A rowing style in which each rower rows with oar on either the port or starboard side.
- (refining, obsolete) The almond furnace.
- 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.
- Any of the blades of a windmill.
- (in the plural) The sweepings of workshops where precious metals are worked, containing filings, etc.
- Any of several sea chubs in the family Kyphosidae (subfamily Scorpidinae).
- 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador 2014, p. 28:
- Octopus clambered about from hole to hole and startled sweep blurred away as we passed.
- 1993, Tim Winton, Land's Edge, Picador 2014, p. 28:
- An expanse or a swath, a strip of land.
Derived terms
Translations
References
- sweep in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “sweep”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
Anagrams
- weeps
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Dutch zweep, from Middle Dutch swepe.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sv???p/
Noun
sweep (plural swepe, diminutive swepie)
- A whip.
Portuguese
Etymology
Borrowed from English sweep.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /?swip/
Noun
sweep m (plural sweeps)
- (electric guitar) sweep (arpeggio played with a single movement of the picking hand)
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