CLEAN UP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clean up mean? 

• CLEAN UP (verb)
  The verb CLEAN UP has 4 senses:

1. put (things or places) in order

2. make a big profit; often in a short period of time

3. dispose of

4. make oneself clean, presentable or neat

  Familiarity information: CLEAN UP used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLEAN UP (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put (things or places) in order

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

clean up; neaten; square away; straighten; straighten out; tidy; tidy up

Context example:

Tidy up your room!

Hypernyms (to "clean up" is one way to...):

order (bring order to or into)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "clean up"):

make; make up (put in order or neaten)

clean; clean house; houseclean (clean and tidy up the house)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a big profit; often in a short period of time

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

The investor really cleaned up when the stock market went up

Hypernyms (to "clean up" is one way to...):

profit; turn a profit (make a profit; gain money or materially)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cleanup (a very large profit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dispose of

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

settle the bills

Hypernyms (to "clean up" is one way to...):

settle (dispose of; make a financial settlement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Make oneself clean, presentable or neat

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

Clean up before you go to the party

Hypernyms (to "clean up" is one way to...):

groom; neaten (care for one's external appearance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

cleanup (the act of making something clean)

 Context examples 

Johansen, who had seen the affair from the break of the poop, sent a couple of sailors aft to clean up the mess.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The researchers said future studies are required before scientists will be able to identify and harness the specific capacities of individual microbes to clean up the array of potentially deleterious chemicals produced during some types of modern food manufacturing.

(Human Gut Microbe Could Make Processed Foods Healthier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . .

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)