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swath

[swoth, swawth]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

the space covered by the stroke of a scythe or the cut of a mowing machine.

the piece or strip so cut.

a line or ridge of grass, grain, or the like, cut and thrown together by a scythe or mowing machine.

a strip, belt, or long and relatively narrow extent of anything.

Idiom

cut a swath, to make a pretentious display; attract notice: The new doctor cut a swath in the small community.

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Swath is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Also, swathe.

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

Can be confused: swath, swathe.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To swath

Example Sentences

But, while the regulations may apply to a broad swath of people, not everybody affected can actually read them.

In the future, a wide swath of companies will sell power.

She samples a narrow swath of research and makes inappropriately broad claims that satisfy many readers initial biases.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

swath or swathe (swɔːθ, sweɪð)

—n , pl swaths, swathes
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

[Old English swæth; related to Old Norse svath smooth patch]

swathe or swathe (swɔːθ, sweɪð, swɔːðz)

—n

[Old English swæth; related to Old Norse svath smooth patch]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

swath

O.E. swæð, swaðu "track, trace, band," from P.Gmc. *swathan, *swatho (cf. O.Fris. swethe "boundary made by a scythe," M.Du. swade, Ger. Schwad "a row of cut grass"); ulterior connections uncertain. Meaning "space covered by the single cut of a scythe" emerged late 15c., and that of "strip,

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lengthwise extent" is from c.1600.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

swath

see cut a wide swath.