to clean house
21
1.0
- phrasal verb
- /klin haʊs/
:
limpiar la casa
- Before the guests arrive, we need to clean the house to make it tidy and presentable.
- go clean house
- clean the whole house
- let's clean house
So I'm going to turn this off and finish cleaning my house, OK?
- So I'm going to turn this off and finish cleaning my house, OK?
- Women were there to clean the house and to make babies, essentially.
- And that's what she was doing when she was cleaning my house, snooping for our condoms.
- But then Saturday, clean the house, play some old school music.
- So I was, I was more about cleaning the house than buying new furniture.
- A walk, a swim, a workout, even cleaning the house.
- His you know, his, his friends are, are, are cleaning out his house.
- Whether it's going for their morning run, getting their groceries, going out to dinner, cleaning the house, going on vacation.
- My grandpa was very old fashioned, you know, he believed that the the girl stays in the house, cleans the house, cooks, cleans.
- But a lot of guys I think, you know, for me, like hiring a cleaner to clean the house once a week is a big, big lift off her shoulders.
Examples
-
So I'm going to turn this off and finish cleaning my house, OK?
-
I spent most of the day cleaning the house.
Fiction book (1991) -
No one knows how to clean my house better than I do.
-
I had to clean the house.
-
I hate to clean house, you know?
-
In practice, they come and clean my house while I am not there.
Blog text (2) -
Till then I'll come and help you clean the house.
-
I'll clean the house real good, and I'll fix my own dinner.
-
You're all gonna clean this house spotless.
-
We'll clean the house.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To remove dirt and stains
433
1.0
To make a room or area free of dirt and tidy by removing mess
42
1.0
To make a place neat by putting things away
32
1.5
Make a room or desk neat by putting things in their right place
13
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
12
3.2
To make a place tidy and organized
8
2.7
Make a room neat by putting things away
3
2.9
To clean the whole house very thoroughly, usually in spring
1
5.8
To clean and tidy a room to make it ready to use
To clean and tidy a house thoroughly and regularly
How Clean
21
1.0
- Informal
32
1.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'clean' (to remove unwanted things) combined with 'house' creates a metaphorical extension meaning to purge or reorganize an organizational ‘house.’ The basic idea of removing unwanted elements is present and may be partially guessable, but many B1 learners will likely interpret it literally as cleaning a home and need exposure to the idiomatic organizational sense.
Etymology
Clean house comes from the simple act of cleaning a home: sweeping dirt away and putting things in order. That's why it means 'to make a house tidy'.