swoop

[swoop] /swup/
verb (used without object)
1.
to sweep through the air, as a bird or a bat, especially down upon prey.
2.
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)
3.
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
4.
an act or instance of swooping; a sudden, swift descent.
Idioms
5.
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.
Origin
1535-45; variant (with close ō) of Middle English swopen, Old English swāpan to sweep1; cognate with German schweifen
Synonyms
4. dive, plunge, sweep, drop.
British Dictionary definitions for in one fell swoop

swoop

/swuːp/
verb
1.
(intransitive; usually foll by down, on, or upon) to sweep or pounce suddenly
2.
(transitive; often foll by up, away, or off) to seize or scoop suddenly
noun
3.
the act of swooping
4.
a swift descent
Word Origin
Old English swāpan to sweep; related to Old High German sweifan to swing around, Old Norse sveipa to throw
Word Origin and History for in one fell swoop

swoop

v.

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.

n.

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]

Idioms and Phrases with in one fell swoop

in one fell swoop

see: one fell swoop

swoop

see: one fell swoop