Definition of Clean up

1. Verb. Put (things or places) in order. "Tidy up your room!"

Exact synonyms: Neaten, Square Away, Straighten, Straighten Out, Tidy, Tidy Up
Specialized synonyms: Make, Make Up, Clean, Clean House, Houseclean
Generic synonyms: Order

2. Verb. Make a big profit; often in a short period of time. "The investor really cleaned up when the stock market went up"
Generic synonyms: Profit, Turn A Profit
Derivative terms: Cleanup

3. Verb. Dispose of. "Settle the bills"
Generic synonyms: Settle

4. Verb. Make oneself clean, presentable or neat. "Clean up before you go to the party"
Generic synonyms: Groom, Neaten
Derivative terms: Cleanup

Definition of Clean up

1. Verb. (transitive) To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. ¹

2. Verb. (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. ¹

3. Verb. (intransitive idiomatic) To make a large profit; to win by a large margin, or to win a large amount, especially in gambling. Also (term clean house). ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Clean Up

clean codes
clean copy
clean house
clean living
clean out
clean potato
clean room
clean sheet
clean sheets
clean shell
clean skin
clean slate
clean someone's clock
clean sweep
clean sweeps
clean up (current term)
clean up one's act
cleanabilities
cleanability
cleanable
cleane
cleaned
cleaned out
cleaned up
cleaner
cleaner fish
cleaners
cleanest
cleanhanded
cleaning

Literary usage of Clean up

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Call of the Hen; Or, The Science of the Selection and Breeding of Poultry by National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Recreational Reading, Walter Hogan, Sherman Dickinson, Harry Reynolds Lewis, Raymond William Gregory, Louis Renou, B. K. Hindse, A. V. Leontovich, Arthur John Arberry (1913)
"After that he fed the egg 'ype all the grain they could clean up in the scratching shod, and kept a balance ration of dry ground feed before them all 'he ..."

2. The Philippines to the End of the Commission Government: A Study in Tropical by Charles Burke Elliott (1917)
"... Fatalism—Spanish and Filipino Doctors—Clean-up by American Army—New Health Regulations—First Board of Health—The Civil and Military Hospitals—Functions ..."

3. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine by Roy J. Friedman Mark Twain Collection (Library of Congress) (1913)
"Ah gwine stay right dah twell de house all clean' up.' 'Cause dat a long perambulation down to Mis' Gilbert's house, Jedge, an' ef she ask me to stay a ..."

4. Individual Training in Our Colleges by Clarence Frank Birdseye (1907)
"Aid her to introduce business methods, And to clean up college and home lives. with others, have poured into her lap. Only a very small proportion of her ..."

5. The Metallurgy of Gold by Thomas Kirke Rose (1906)
"In large mills a clean-up revolving barrel is often employed to mix the amalgam. ... The Clean-up Pan is even more extensively used than the barrel. ..."

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