clean up

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

clean up (third-person singular simple present cleans up, present participle cleaning up, simple past and past participle cleaned up)

1. (transitive) To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy.
   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     At the same time, it is pouring money into cleaning up the country.

   Clean up your room.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic, colloquial) To become clean, handsome, smart in appearance, e.g. for a special occasion, especially when it is out of character to be seen as such.

   He sure cleans up nice.

3. (intransitive, idiomatic) To make a large profit; to win by a large margin, or to win a large amount, especially in gambling. Also clean house.

   Man, he sure cleaned up last night at the blackjack table.   The investors cleaned up when the stock hit the roof last year.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:clean up.

• cleanup

• cleanup
• clean out
• clean house

clean up (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of cleanup

• unplace