An Americanism dating back to 1855–60
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I love my carpet sweeper music,” he said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
The opera’s second act begins with a scene showing Anne at home with Susan, using an old-fashioned carpet sweeper.
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
One of the most popular non-electrical labour-saving devices was the mechanical carpet sweeper, which first went on sale in Britain in 1889.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2018
But should the bedroom tea-maker, the carpet sweeper and the hostess trolley be consigned to the dustbin of history?
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2018
Use the carpet sweeper, being careful not to knock the furniture nor to jar the bed.
From Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts by Bacon, Josephine Dodge Daskam
While her lodgers were at church the tireless Mrs. Schiller was doing a little housecleaning: he could hear the monotonous rasp of a carpet-sweeper passing back and forth in an adjoining room.
From The Haunted Bookshop by Morley, Christopher
He pointed to a carpet-sweeper which lay against the wall.
From The Black Box by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
When Katie's carpet-sweeper and feather-duster and kind, gossiping voice sounded too close, he escaped out of doors, but not on his bicycle.
From Rough-Hewn by Canfield, Dorothy
Romola flew to the kitchen and borrowed an apron from the cook, tied a duster round her head, seized up a pail and a carpet-sweeper, and came as 'Domestic Service.'
From Monitress Merle by Brazil, Angela
They have many household conveniences: running water in a barrel, a blue flame oil stove, a bread-mixer, and a carpet-sweeper.
From The American Country Girl by Crow, Martha Foote
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
