sweep up

phrasal verb

swept up; sweeping up; sweeps up

1

: to remove dust, dirt, etc., from (something) by using a broom or brush

When I was sweeping up, I found an earring that I had lost.

Can you please sweep up the porch?

2

: to remove (something, such as dust, dirt, etc.) from a surface by using a broom or brush

She swept up the broken glass.

3

: to pick up (someone or something) in one quick, continuous motion

She swept the baby up and carried her to the crib.

4

: to brush or pull (hair) away from the face

—usually used as be swept up

Her hair was swept up in a bun.

Examples of sweep up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That the officers often swept up groups of colleagues, friends and family members was probably a matter of convenience more than anything else. —M. Gessen, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026

Pilgrims, tourists, and demonstrators were swept up together in the crowd. —Davood Moradian, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2026

But Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino doubled down on the unrelenting detention effort, which has at times swept up legal residents, US citizens and even a preschooler. —Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 24 Jan. 2026

Easily swept up by wind and carried long distances by water, these tiny motes are also exceedingly difficult to detect and almost impossible to remove from the environment. —K. R. Callaway, Scientific American, 22 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for sweep up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup