Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: SWEEPINGS |
SWEEPINGSNoun plural1. Things collected by sweeping; rubbish; as, the sweepings of a street. |
Date "SWEEPINGS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1780. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inutility | Litter, rubbish, junk, lumber, odds and ends, cast-off clothes; button top; shoddy; rags, orts, trash, refuse, sweepings, scourings, offscourings, waste, rubble, debris, detritus; stubble, leavings; broken meat; dregs; (dirt); weeds, tares; rubbish heap, dust hole; rudera, deads. |
Uncleanness | Hogwash; ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater; rinsings, cheeseparings; sweepings; (useless refuse); offscourings, outscourings; off scum; caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff; scurf, scurfiness; exuviae, morphea; fur, furfur; dandruff, tartar. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: SWEEPINGS |
| English words defined with "SWEEPINGS": Raff ♦ Shakings, Sweepwasher. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "SWEEPINGS": DECONTAMINATOR, Dung-gate, DYNAMITE RECLAIMER, DYNAMITE-PACKING-MACHINE FEEDER ♦ PARTS SALVAGER, powder shoveler ♦ Stinkomalee' ♦ tobacco refuse, tobacco scraps ♦ waste-house operator. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Farce! Where are the bombers? Our reinforcements? This is the most important place in Germany, and what do we have to fight with? Old men, riff-raff, the sweepings from the road (The Bridge at Remagen; writing credit: Roger O. Hirson; Richard Yates) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | That is a result of the sweepings which are, as the portresses will, fat or lean, according to the fancy of her who makes the head |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "SWEEPINGS" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "SWEEPINGS" is used about 6 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 100% | 6 | 143,867 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "SWEEPINGS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | plehra (dust, garbage, mullock, offal, offscourings, recrement, refuse, rejectamenta, rubbish, sweeping, tailings, trash, waste). (various references) | |
Arabic | قمامة (garbage, muck, mud, refuse, rubbish, soil, sweeping, swill, trash), قاذورات (garbage, rubbish, trash), حثالة المجتمع (scum). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | смет (dirt, dust, litter, mullock, offal, raffle, refuse, rejectamenta, rubbish), измет (offscourings, ragtag, riffraff, scum, tag-rag). (various references) | |
Czech | smetí (garbage, litter, rubbish, sweep, trash). (various references) | |
Danish | gadeaffald, fejeskarn. (various references) | |
Dutch | straatvuil, samenveegsel, veegsel, opveegsel. (various references) | |
Finnish | rikat (garbage, refuse). (various references) | |
French | balayures. (various references) | |
German | Straßenkehricht, kehricht (rubbish). (various references) | |
Greek | σκουπίδια (garbage, junk, litter, refuse, rubbish, trash). (various references) | |
Hebrew | פסולת (dregs, junk, litter, offal, refuse, riffraff, rubbish, trash, waste), אשפ" (dirt, dung, dunghill, garbage, litter, refuse, rubbish, trash, waste). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szemét (dreck, dross, garbage, have no end of money, litter, offal, punk, rubbish, rubbishy, scum, sleaze, sleazo, sleazy, snotty, sodding, stinky, trash), söpredék (dregs, offscourings, rabble, raff, ragtag, riff raff, scum, scurf, trash), összesepert hulladék, összesöpört szemét, összesöpört hulladék (sweep). (various references) | |
Italian | scolatura, rifiuti da attivit di spazzamento delle strade, rifiuti (cull, garbage, litter, offal, refuse, rubbish, swill, trash). (various references) | |
Manx | skeabaghyn. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eepingssway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | varreduras, detrito (detritus), despojos (brash, forest residues, groundwood, logging residues, slash). (various references) | |
Russian | мусор (garbage, gubbish, litter, ordure, refuse, rubbish, slop, trash). (various references) | |
Scottish | smodal (crumbs, fragments). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | pomet, đubre (dung, fertilizer, garbage, junk, laystall, muck, offscourings, ordure, rubbish, trash). (various references) | |
Spanish | heces (dregs, lees, sediment, slop), barreduras de las calles, barreduras (dust). (various references) | |
Swedish | sopor (refuse, trash). (various references) | |
Turkish | süprüntü (brushing, candle-end, dreg, dregs, dross, garbage, offscourings, refuse, rejectamenta, rubbish, sweeps, trumpery). (various references) | |
Welsh | ysgubion, mwlwg (chaff, refuse). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | purgamenta, purgamentum, quisquilias. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "SWEEPINGS": minesweepings. (additional references) | |
| |
"SWEEPINGS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: seeings, seepings, seppings. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "SWEEPINGS" (pronounced 'Sweep"ings'): A-mornings, Beastings, Coamings, Fleetings, Fleshings, Leavings, Pleadings, Screenings, Shakings, Yearnings. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-g-i-n-p-s-s-w" | |
-1 letter: sweeping, weepings. | |
-2 letters: genesis, newsies, penises, seeings, seeping, sewings, signees, spewing, swinges, weeping. | |
-3 letters: egises, espies, genies, genips, gneiss, newies, newsie, peeing, peises, seeing, seines, sewing, sieges, signee, sinews, singes, snipes, speise, spense, spines, sweeps, swinge, swings, swipes. | |
-4 letters: genes, genie, genip, neeps, newie, ngwee, peens, peins, peise, penes, penis, pines, pings, seeps, segni. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-e-g-i-n-p-s-s-w" | |
+3 letters: sweepingness. | |
+4 letters: minesweepings. | |
+5 letters: sweepingnesses. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Translations: Modern 8. Translations: Ancient | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.