- a long piece of land, especially one on which the plants or crops have been cut
- The combine had cut a swathe around the edge of the field.
- Development has affected vast swathes of our countryside.
Extra Examples- The war had cut a swathe of destruction across northern France.
- The Great Plains of the US cover a vast swathe of land.
- The rainforest forms a swathe of jungle in West Africa.
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- a large piece or area of something
- The mountains rose above a swathe of thick cloud.
- The front door was open and a swathe of sunlight lay across the floor.
Word Originnoun Old English swæth, swathu ‘track, trace’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch zwad(e) and German Schwade. In Middle English the term denoted a measure of the width of grassland, probably reckoned by a sweep of the mower's scythe.
Idioms
See swathe in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycut a swathe through something
- (of a person, fire, etc.) to pass through a particular area destroying a large part of it
- Building the tunnel would involve cutting a great swathe through the forest.
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swathe