Question about meaning of " swept out to" in the context

Question

What does it mean when someone says ** be swept out to somewhere**

Military divers who attempted to search the ship were swept out to sea.

The sentence was caption for the picture below.

Lucian Sava · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-17 11:49:16Z

1

To sweep means to broom, that is to remove different things using a broom.

In this case the action of waves and wind is similar to the action of a broom.

answered Apr 17, 2014 at 10:47

Lucian Sava

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More or less, yes. Using "sweep" in this way is only idiomatic in most English dialects if (1) applied to weather (usually wind, waves, or currents) and (2) followed by a preposition ("swept out to sea," "swept away by the wind").
– chapka
Commented Apr 18, 2014 at 19:48
I’ve got it. Much obliged!
– Lucian Sava
Commented Apr 20, 2014 at 6:51

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