SWATH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swath mean? 

• SWATH (noun)
  The noun SWATH has 2 senses:

1. the space created by the swing of a scythe or the cut of a mowing machine

2. a path or strip (as cut by one course of mowing)

  Familiarity information: SWATH used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWATH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The space created by the swing of a scythe or the cut of a mowing machine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("swath" is a kind of...):

space (an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A path or strip (as cut by one course of mowing)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

belt; swath

Hypernyms ("swath" is a kind of...):

course; path; track (a line or route along which something travels or moves)

 Context examples 

Stars that are just beginning to coalesce out of cool swaths of dust and gas are showcased in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).

(The 'Serpent' star-forming cloud hatches new stars, NASA)

First, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope, which scans large swaths of the sky in optical light from New Mexico, imaged SDSS J0849+1114.

(Three Black Holes on Collision Course, NASA)

The concept of Earth's "critical zone" — the swath from the top of the tree canopy down to bedrock — gives scientists the framework to look at the environment from a larger perspective.

(Study reveals surprising role of dust in mountain ecosystems, National Science Foundation)

However, the wet and fractured ice along the southern coastline cluttered the radar soundings so that large swaths of the bed remained invisible.

(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)

In that field, Adele, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since—the evening of the day you helped me to make hay in the orchard meadows; and, as I was tired with raking swaths, I sat down to rest me on a stile; and there I took out a little book and a pencil, and began to write about a misfortune that befell me long ago, and a wish I had for happy days to come: I was writing away very fast, though daylight was fading from the leaf, when something came up the path and stopped two yards off me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Marine life researchers from the UK and Australia are using the sounds of healthy sea life to attract fish and plankton, hoping to get them to help revive dying swaths of the Great Barrier Reef.

(Loudspeakers used to attract fish back to dying coral reefs, SciDev.Net)

The spotted owl gained national prominence in the United States during the 1990s, when environmentalists' efforts to preserve its habitat resulted in federal measures forbidding logging on large swaths of land, as well as federal limits on the sales of harvested wood.

(Researchers find preserving spotted owl habitat may not require a tradeoff with wildfire risk after all, Wikinews)