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Greek

To sweep

σαρόωStrong’s G4563

saroō

Appears in 3 verses of the New Testament

In short

Saroō is the Greek word usually translated “swept” and “sweeps”. It appears in 3 verses of the New Testament.

“Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.”
Matthew 12:44 KJV
Meaning

Usually translated “swept” and “sweeps”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.

How it's translated
  • swept 2
  • she sweeps 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Luke 2
  • Matthew 1

2 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
Greek dictionary

σαρόω saroō · to sweep

σαρόω, -ῶ late form of σαίρω, to sweep: with accusative, Luk.15:8; pass., Mat.12:44, Luk.11:25.† (AS)

From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “sweep” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

SWEEP, verb transitive

preterit tense and participle passive swept.

  1. To brush or rub over with a brush, broom or besom, for removing loose dirt; to clean by brushing; as, to sweep a chimney or a floor.
  2. To carry with a long swinging or dragging motion; to carry with pomp.
  3. To drive or carry along or off by a long brushing stroke or force, or by flowing on the earth.
  4. To drive, destroy or carry off many at a stroke, or with celerity and violence; as, a pestilence sweeps off multitudes in a few days.
All definitions and other forms of “sweep”
  1. To rub over.
  2. To strike with a long stroke.
  3. To draw or drag over; as, to sweep the bottom of a river with a net, or with the bight of a rope, to hook an anchor.

SWEEP, verb intransitive

To pass with swiftness and violence, as something broad or brushing the surface of any thing; as a sweeping rain; a sweeping flood. A fowl that flies near the surface of land or water, is said to sweep along near the surface.

  1. To pass over or brush along with celerity and force; as, the wind sweeps along the plain.
  2. To pass with pomp; as, a person sweeps along with a trail.
  3. To move with a long reach; as a sweeping stroke.

SWEEP, noun

The act of sweeping.

  1. The compass of a stroke; as a long sweep
  2. The compass of any turning body or motion; as the sweep of a door.
  3. The compass of any thing flowing or brushing; as, the flood carried away every thing within its sweep
  4. Violent and general destruction; as the sweep of an epidemic disease.
  5. Direction of any motion not rectilinear; as the sweep of a compass.
  6. The mold of a ship when she begins to compass in, at the rung heads; also, any part of a ship shaped by the segment of a circle; as a floor-sweep; a back-sweep, etc.
  7. Among refiners of metals, the almost-furnace.
  8. Among seamen, a large oar, used to assist the rudder in turning a ship in a calm, or to increase her velocity in a chase, etc.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.