From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishswatheswathe1 /sweɪð $ swɑːð, swɒːð, sweɪð/ (also swath /swɒθ $ swɑːθ/) noun [countable] 1 a long thin area of something, especially landswathe of The bomb had left a swathe of the town centre in ruins. A swathe of sunlight lay across the floor.2 TADLGa long thin area of grass or plants that has been cut down We cut a swathe through the dense undergrowth.3 → cut a swathe through something
Examples from the Corpus
swathe• This time the front door was open and a swathe of sunlight lay across the red-tiled floor.• Only the water itself, its wildly fluctuating level carving a swathe of devastation along the shore, betrays the deception.• He took out his knife and cut a swathe to the hollow.• They cut a swathe through the massed black-clad warriors, and then turning swiftly trampled back over their disorganized ranks.• It was like a smile, it was like a little Eden of thoughtful pleasure: a swathe of allotments.• a swathe of beige cloth• Great swathes of the world don't even have electricity or roads, let alone an information superhighway.• The fire had destroyed huge swathes of land.• She would start nearest to the door and work her way along the jostling, glistening, pouring swathes of colours.• This effectively excludes vast swathes of the planet's population.cut a swathe through• They cut a swathe through the massed black-clad warriors, and then turning swiftly trampled back over their disorganized ranks.swatheswathe2 verb [transitive] literary COVERto wrap or cover something in something women swathed in expensive furs The moon was swathed in mist.Grammar Swathe is usually passive.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
swathe• As a cool breeze swathed his sweat-drenched body he realized they had taken his clothes.• She was swathed in a red silk dress that fitted where it touched.• He is swathed in chains, from which hang trophies - namely the heads of his victims, hanging by their hair.• They were the Mien, whose blue-turbaned women were swathed in dark robes accented with red wool ruffs.• Her attraction to him had hardly been swathed in subtlety.• No clouds swathed it, no breeze cooled him.• Brown and white bunting swathed the edges of the small stage.Origin swathe1 Old English swæth “footstep, track” swathe2 Old English swathian 