swath

[ swoth, swawth ]

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.

swath

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of swath¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of swath¹

Old English swæth; related to Old Norse svath smooth patch

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

   The new doctor cut a swath in the small community.

More idioms and phrases containing swath

see cut a wide swath .

Example Sentences

In the case of LLMs, these are called weight matrices, which are numerical representations of word patterns learned from large swaths of text.

From Science Daily

“This system will inevitably result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech and commentary,” the lawsuit states.

From Los Angeles Times

Israeli bombardment has ravaged large swaths of the country, killed almost 3,300 people and displaced a quarter of the population.

From Los Angeles Times

The microbiologists used the novel approach on Atacama soil samples collected from the desert along a west-to-east swath from the ocean's edge to the foothills of the Andes mountains.

From Science Daily

His plan, he freely said, was radical: slashing the federal work force by 75 percent, 50 percent in Year 1, and eliminating large swaths of the federal government.

From New York Times

Related Words

• fodder
• grass