Dictionary

sweeper en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈswipɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English swepere, swepare, equivalent to sweep + -er. Cognate with Middle Low German swēpære, swēper (“broom for sweeping up debris”, literally “sweeper”).

Meanings

1. One who sweeps; one whose occupation is sweeping.
   • ‘I was [...] the sweeper of the seaboat. I had the job for two years. I know all about keeping boats tiddley.’ 1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 97:
2. One who sweeps floors or chimneys.
3. A detector for mines.
4. Any of the small, tropical marine perciform fishes of the family Pempheridae, typically with deeply keeled, compressed bodies and large eyes.
5. A defender who is the last line of defence before the goalkeeper.
6. A person who sweeps the ice ahead of the rock in play.
7. A batsman who plays sweep shots.
8. A fielding position along the boundary; a fielder in this position.
9. A tree that has fallen over a river with branches extending into the water.
   • So named because they can sweep passengers from a boat, they can also capsize a canoe, especially when paddlers lean too far away from the sweeper.. 1975, Verne Huser, River Running: Canoeing, Kayaking, Rowing, Rafting - Page 102
   • ..tree will be hanging over the water about canoe level (a sweeper).. 2007, Basic Essentials Canoe Paddling, 3rd - Page 62
10. A carpet sweeper.
11. (US, qualifier:including Ohio; Indiana and Western Pennsylvania; including Ohio; Indiana and Western Pennsylvania, regional) A vacuum cleaner.
12. (Cebu, including, regional) A group of students tasked at cleaning the homeroom after class dismissal.
13. (qualifier:hiking) The last person in the line of hikers that is responsible for ensuring no one gets separated from the group.
14. A character designed or capable of knocking out multiple enemies in succession, usually due to a combination of high offense and high speed.
15. (slang) A large-radius, or high/medium speed corner in a racing circuit, named as such because of the ability of someone to trace the corner profile via "sweeping" motion of the arm.

Forms

Deriveds

chimney sweeper · sweeper-keeper · minesweeper · carpetsweeper · trench sweeper · sweeperess · carpet sweeper · Skysweeper · street sweeper · crossing-sweeper

Synonyms

libero

Translations (38)

ca defensa lliure (in soccer) · de Ausputzer (in soccer) · mi kaitahi (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · es barrendero (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ro măturători (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ru подмета́льщица (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · sv sopare (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ru трубочи́ст (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · de Putzfrau (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ro măturător (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · bg метач (in soccer) · fi nuohooja (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · cmn 清道夫 (in soccer) · fi libero (in soccer) · de Kaminkehrer (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · fi lakaisija (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ca escombriaire (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ar كَنَّاس (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ru подмета́льщик (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · sk zametač (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · fr balayeur (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · wo balekat (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ru трубочи́стка (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · de Libero (in soccer) · de Raumpfleger (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · bg метач (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · fr libero (in soccer) · fr libéro (in soccer) · ru чи́стильщик (in soccer) · ru убо́рщица (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · ru убо́рщик (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · sv libero (in soccer) · it libero (in soccer) · sk zametačka (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · de Putzmann (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · mi kaitahi para (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · it spazzino (one who sweeps floors or chimneys) · fi siivooja (one who sweeps floors or chimneys)