verb (used without object)
- to sweep through the air, as a bird or a bat, especially down upon prey.
- to come down upon something in a sudden, swift attack (often followed by down and on or upon): The army swooped down on the town.
verb (used with object)
- to take, lift, scoop up, or remove with or as with one sweeping motion (often followed by up, away, or off): He swooped her up in his arms.
noun
- an act or instance of swooping; a sudden, swift descent.
- at/in one fell swoop, all at once or all together, as if by one blow: The quake flattened the houses at one fell swoop.
verb
- (intr; usually foll by down, on, or upon) to sweep or pounce suddenly
- (tr; often foll by up, away, or off) to seize or scoop suddenly
noun
- the act of swooping
- a swift descent
1560s, “to move or walk in a stately manner,” apparently from a dialectal survival of Old English swapan “to sweep, brandish, dash,” from Proto-Germanic *swaipanan, from PIE root *swei- “to swing, bend, to turn.” Meaning “pounce upon with a sweeping movement” first recorded 1630s. Spelling with -oo- may have been influenced by Scottish and northern England dialectal soop “to sweep,” from Old Norse sopa “to sweep.” Related: Swooped; swooping.
1540s, from swoop (v.). Phrase one fell swoop is from Shakespeare.
Oh, Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme, At one fell swoope? [“Macbeth,” IV.iii.219]
see one fell swoop.
see one fell swoop.