WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
sweep up v 1: force into some kind of situation, condition, or course of action; "They were swept up by the events"; "don't drag me into this business" [syn: embroil, tangle, sweep, sweep up, drag, drag in] 2: take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own; "She embraced Catholicism"; "They adopted the Jewish faith" [syn: espouse, embrace, adopt, sweep up]