swath

American  

[swoth, swawth] / swɒθ, swɔθ /

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.

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idioms

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

   The new doctor cut a swath in the small community.

swath British  

/ sweɪð, swɔːθ /

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

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swath More Idioms  

1. see cut a wide swath.

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Etymology

Origin of swath

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

Example Sentences

A massive earthquake of magnitude 8.8 in Russia brought tsunami alerts to a wide swath of the Pacific.

From Los Angeles Times

The following month, they caused widespread internet service outages that affected swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

From Los Angeles Times

This has been helped along by the fact that there are swaths of Americans who consider themselves Christians, but who don’t interface with traditional authority figures when it comes to faith.

From Salon

The ban has been met with uproar from large swaths of the nearly half a million certified American commercial drone pilots.

From The Wall Street Journal

The US personnel who were targeted were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the international effort to combat IS, which seized swaths of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014.

From Barron's

Related Words

• fodder
• grass