(chiefly N. Amer. <主北美> 亦作swath /swɔːθ/)
(pl. swathes或swaths /swɔːθs/ )
1
- a row or line of grass, corn, or other crop as it falls or lies when mown or reaped一刈幅的草（或玉米、其他作物）。
1.1
- a strip left clear by the passage of a mowing machine or scythe割刈地带：
the combine had cut a deep swathe around the border of the fields.
联合收割机在田地周围留下了一条深深的割刈带。
2
- a broad strip or area of something长而宽的一条（或地带）：
vast swathes of countryside
一条条宽阔的乡下田地
figurative 〈喻〉a significant swathe of popular opinion.
公众舆论的一大部分。
短语
cut a swathe through
- pass through (something) causing great damage, destruction, or change横扫而过（造成破坏）; 夷为平地：
Aids has cut a swathe through battalions of ordinary people.
艾滋病已经夺去了无数平民百姓的生命。
cut a wide swath
- US attract a great deal of attention by trying to impress others〈美〉炫耀, 招摇过市, 出风头。
词源
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.