1a row or line of grass, corn, or other crop as it falls or lies when mown or reaped:if the day is windy, the swathes should be high and narrowswathes of barley
a strip left clear by the passage of a mowing machine or scythe:the combine had cut a deep swathe around the border of the fields
2a broad strip or area of something:vast swathes of countryside figurativea significant swathe of popular opinion
cut a swathe through
pass through (something) causing great damage, destruction, or change:AIDS has cut a swathe through battalions of ordinary people
cut a wide swath
North American attract a great deal of attention by trying to impress others.