clean house

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clean

(klēn)

adj. clean·er, clean·est

1. Free from dirt, stain, or impurities; unsoiled: a clean kitchen floor; clean clothes.

a. Free from foreign matter or pollution; unadulterated: clean air; clean drinking water.

b. Not infected: a clean wound.

a. Producing relatively little pollution: a clean fuel; a cleaner, more efficient engine.

b. Producing relatively little radioactive fallout or contamination: a clean nuclear bomb.

4. Having no imperfections or blemishes; regular or even: a clean edge; a smooth, clean joint.

a. Not ornate or intricate; spare: "the clean lines and exquisite proportions of early modernism" (Judith Thurman).

b. Sharply defined; clear-cut: a clean outline against the sky.

6. Free from clumsiness; deft; adroit: a clean throw.

7. Devoid of restrictions or encumbrances: a clean bill of health.

8. Thorough; complete: a clean getaway.

9. Having few alterations or corrections; legible: clean manuscript.

10. Blank: a clean page.

11.

a. Morally pure; virtuous: led a clean life.

b. Having no marks of discredit or offense: a clean voting record.

12. Fit for all readers, listeners, or audiences; not ribald or obscene: a clean joke.

13. Honest or fair: a clean fighter; a clean competition.

14. Slang

a. Not carrying concealed weapons or drugs.

b. Innocent of a suspected crime.

15. Informal

a. Free from narcotics addiction.

b. Showing no evidence of using banned or performance-enhancing substances: proven to be clean before the race.

adv. cleaner, cleanest

1. So as to be unsoiled: wash the dishes clean.

2. In a fair manner: played the game clean.

3. In a clean or nonpolluting manner: a fuel that burns clean.

4. Informal Entirely; wholly: clean forgot the appointment.

v. cleaned, clean·ing, cleans

v.tr.

1. To rid of dirt, rubbish, or impurities: clean a room; clean a suit.

2. To get rid of (impurities or dirt, for example); remove: cleaned up the trash; cleaned off the stains.

3. To prepare (fowl or other food) for cooking, as by removing the entrails or fat.

4. To remove the contents from; empty: cleaned my plate.

5. Sports To lift (a barbell) from the floor to the shoulders in one motion.

v.intr.

To undergo or perform an act of cleaning.

Phrasal Verbs:

clean out

1. To rid of dirt, rubbish, or impurities.

2. To empty of contents or occupants.

3. Informal To drive or force out: cleaned out the incompetent workers.

4. Slang To deprive completely of money or material wealth: The robbery cleaned us out.

clean up

1. To make clean or orderly.

2. To make oneself clean, neat, or presentable.

3. To dispose of; settle: cleaned up the unpaid bills.

4. Slang To make a large profit, often in a short period of time: cleaned up during the bull market.

Idiom:

clean house Slang

To eliminate or discard what is undesirable: The scandal forced the company to clean house.

[Middle English clene, from Old English clǣne.]

clean′a·ble adj.

clean′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Verb

clean house - clean and tidy up the house; "She housecleans every week"

houseclean, clean

clean up, neaten, square away, tidy, tidy up, straighten, straighten out - put (things or places) in order; "Tidy up your room!"

clean - remove while making clean; "Clean the spots off the rug"

clean, make clean - make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from; "Clean the stove!"; "The dentist cleaned my teeth"

G.I., GI - clean in preparation for inspection; "the soldiers GIed the barracks"

spring-clean - thoroughly clean the entire house, often done only once a year; "she started spring-cleaning on April 1"

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

"But we should have had to clean house, Rebecca or no Rebecca," urged Jane; "and I can't see why you've scrubbed and washed and baked as you have for that one child, nor why you've about bought out Watson's stock of dry goods."

View in context

For the same reason I don't make all my journey in one day, but divide it into two days, and get a bed to-night at the Travellers' Coffee House down by the railroad (a nice clean house), and go back Parliamentary, at six in the morning.

View in context

Then, there were the walks as usual, and many calls at the clean houses of the labouring men; and at night, Oliver read a chapter or two from the Bible, which he had been studying all the week, and in the performance of which duty he felt more proud and pleased, than if he had been the clergyman himself.

View in context

I have not often seen a place that commends itself so favourably and pleasantly to a stranger at the first glance as this does: with its clean houses of red and white, its well-paved roads, and foot-ways of bright tile.

View in context

She might have a clean house, but it sounds as if Aggie might have a little bit of a dirty mind nowadays.

Aggie MacKenzie's bedroom tips used []; THE DIARY

She said: "It's not going to get better and we want a nice, clean house.

Dirty houses to breathing problems: What is it like living in the dustiest town in UK; Residents say the appearance of a dark, finely-milled substance in their homes is harming their health

He urged Umno to accept the possible departures as an opportunity to clean house.

Tok Pa just start of Umno exodus, says party leader

It is so bad that the first order of business for Secretary Berna is to clean house.

Berna must clean tourism

An acquisition of Twitter by another party is "far less likely until these companies clean house with regard to privacy concerns and selling user data," Citron added in its report.

Citron says short Twitter with Facebook scandal raising regulation risk

Bolton is preparing to "clean house" and remove nearly all of the political appointees brought in by his predecessor H.R.

Report: Bolton Plans to Fire Dozens of White House Officials

"It's time to clean house from regulators not spending taxpayer money wisely," the governor said in his tweet.

Embattled TABC chief Sherry Cook is stepping down

Under EU regulations, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU Treaty and then has two years to clean house and leave the 28-member EU.