swath

[ swoth, swawth ]

noun

1. the space covered by the stroke of a scythe or the cut of a mowing machine.
2. the piece or strip so cut.
3. a line or ridge of grass, grain, or the like, cut and thrown together by a scythe or mowing machine.
4. a strip, belt, or long and relatively narrow extent of anything.

swath

/ swɔːθ; sweɪð /

noun

1. the width of one sweep of a scythe or of the blade of a mowing machine
2. the strip cut by either of these in one course
3. the quantity of cut grass, hay, or similar crop left in one course of such mowing
4. a long narrow strip or belt

Word History and Origins

Origin of swath¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English swæth footprint; cognate with German Shwade

Word History and Origins

Origin of swath¹

Old English swæth; related to Old Norse svath smooth patch

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. cut a swath, to make a pretentious display; attract notice:

   The new doctor cut a swath in the small community.

More idioms and phrases containing swath

see cut a wide swath .

Example Sentences

The Chollas Creek Watershed, for instance, covers a broad swath of the city’s urban core, including City Heights, southeastern San Diego neighborhoods and Barrio Logan before it dumps out into San Diego Bay.

From Voice of San Diego

Those numbers should continue to gradually rise as we see a swath of steady light to moderate snow settle in overhead.

From Washington Post

Together, those two factors could make it significantly easier to quickly inoculate large swaths of the global population.

From Quartz

Amazon Web Services’ status page showed its service, which provides computing power to large swaths of the Internet, was experiencing an issue with an external provider.

From Washington Post

Desmond represents large swaths of North County, including Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista.

From Voice of San Diego

This could create tremendous opportunity for a broad swath of the rustbelt population.

From The Daily Beast

The F4 twister cut a long swath of destruction that crossed just four blocks from my house.

From The Daily Beast

“There is a big swath of Democratic donors that is making this a top priority,” she said.

From The Daily Beast

Still, a 30-something who knows his way around a cufflink is viewed with some suspicion by a swath of the French left.

From The Daily Beast

But Kibbe never addresses the fact that MLK called for more involvement of the federal government in a broad swath of public life.

From The Daily Beast

She had no sooner turned the hall than down the somber stretch she noticed with surprise a brilliant swath of light.

From Project Gutenberg

With a sure hand he mowed a slight swath of wool along Mary Belle's back.

From Project Gutenberg

The Atomic Ray arched angrily, cutting a deep swath through those who still sought a hold.

From Project Gutenberg

Here and there a clean swath was cut through a forest, for perhaps dozens of miles, by a hurricane.

From Project Gutenberg

For a while George watched Tom's steady swing of the scythe as he slowly cut a swath the length of the field.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fodder
• grass