A whiskey punch served in 19th century New York taverns contained cocaine sweepings. What are cocaine sweepings?

by GrngrDngr

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/ny.eater.com/platform/amp/2014/10/23/7050269/10-juicy-facts-about-19th-century-new-york-city-dive-bars

I've googled this and can't find an actual definition. Is it just sweepings of leftover powder or something else?

thepromisedgland

This is a pretty frequent problem when reading old product names and a major hassle when trying to achieve data concordance. I haven't heard the term sweepings used directly for cocaine, but defining it as waste or leftovers would be consistent with the way it's used for other goods: e.g., in Standard International Trade Classifications "263.39 Sweepings (waste), cotton, not carded or combed."