well sweep

noun

sweep¹(def 29).

Origin of well sweep

First recorded in 1820–30

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for well sweep

Historical Examples of well sweep

The well-sweep had served its turn, and my companion and I relapsed into silence.
Over the Teacups
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
There was no need of a pump, and at grandmother's they had a well-sweep and bucket.
A Little Girl in Old New York
Amanda Millie Douglas
The water in the well was usually drawn by means of a well-sweep.
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
George Francis Dow
There is no pump, or windlass, nor even a well-sweep; but a rope.
Letters from Palestine
J. D. Paxton
Think of watering a whole wheat-field with a well-sweep and a pail!
The Ship Dwellers
Albert Bigelow Paine

British Dictionary definitions for well sweep

well sweep

noun

a device for raising buckets from and lowering them into a well, consisting of a long pivoted pole, the bucket being attached to one end by a long rope

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012