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sweeper

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Etymology and origin of the English word sweeper

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1440 Promptorium Parvulorum More words from the 15th century
Ultimate origins
Old English swapanProto-Germanic *-ārī
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English sweep
English sweeper
From the same root
English swipe ← sweep

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈswipɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English sweep + -er,[2][3][4][5] first as Middle English swepare, from swepen (“to sweep”) and the agent suffix -ere.[6][7] Etymonline notes that it appears as a surname in the early 15th century.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A broom for sweeping out an oven: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the mid 15th century, both for a person who sweeps and for such an implement,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1400–50.[5]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "one who or that which sweeps" is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave,[2] and a person employed to sweep a room, chimney, house or ship from 1657; in India the word was used specifically of a member of the lowest caste who did this work.[2] As sweep extended to dragging the water or scanning the sky, sweeper followed: a person or vessel that sweeps for something under water (1775), now usually short for minesweeper, and a telescope for sweeping the sky (1786), in Herschel.[2] In curling the sweeper brushes the ice in front of the stone (1789),[2][8] and in Yorkshire mills a sweeper was a girl who swept up the fluff and waste from spinning.[8] Machines for sweeping floors and roads are recorded from 1862.[2][3] North American usage has sweeper for a tree overhanging a stream (1888).[2][9] The 20th century added sporting senses, a batter who plays the sweep in cricket (1961) and a defender behind the back line in football (1964),[2][3] and a device for detecting hidden listening apparatus (1968).[2][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1440 – a broom for sweeping out an oven (obsolete by 1580).[2]
  • 1530 – one who or that which sweeps.[2]
  • 1621 – a pliant rod in a bird snare (obsolete by 1681).[2]
  • 1657 – a person employed to sweep a room, chimney, house or ship.[2]
  • 1775 – a person or vessel that sweeps for something under water.[2]
  • 1786 – a telescope for sweeping the sky.[2]
  • 1789 – a player who sweeps the ice in curling.[2]
  • 1862 – a machine for sweeping floors or roads.[2][3]
  • 1888 – a tree overhanging a stream (North America).[2]
  • 1961 – in cricket, a batter who sweeps.[2]
  • 1964 – in football, a defender playing behind the back line.[2][3]
  • 1968 – a device for detecting listening apparatus.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who sweeps, especially one employed to sweep streets or rooms: The sweepers cleared the platform after the last train.[11][6][2]
  2. A device for sweeping, such as a carpet sweeper or a street-cleaning machine.[11][6][2]
  3. In soccer, a defender who plays behind the other defenders as an extra line of defence.[11][6][2]
  4. A minesweeper.[6][2]
  5. In curling, a player who brushes the ice in front of a moving stone.[2][9][8]
  6. (North American) A tree that grows close to a stream and overhangs it, or a fallen tree drifting in it.[2][9]
  7. A person or device that searches for hidden surveillance equipment.[2][10]
  8. (Australia and New Zealand) A person employed to sweep up wool in a shearing shed.[12][13]
  9. (obsolete, 1440–1580) A broom for sweeping out an oven.[2][4]

Word family

  • minesweeper
  • carpet sweeper

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  8. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ a b c Barber, Katherine, ed. (2004), The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005), The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Auckland: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Sweeper.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sweeper. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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