to clean up
433
1.0
- phrasal verb
- /ˈkliːn ʌp/
:
limpiar
- After the party, we need to clean up the living room and remove all the decorations.
- clean up the mess
- help clean up
- clean up the room
Yeah, start to clean up as you go.
- Yeah, start to clean up as you go.
- Please, please help us clean up the studio from last week's performance.
- So, but first, let's clean up because look at look at this.
- And you clean up that over there.
Examples
-
But then you get a bunch of people to go clean it up, and the whole thing is different.
Academic text (1998) -
Please, please help us clean up the studio from last week's performance.
-
Yeah, start to clean up as you go.
-
OK, And now we can clean it up even more.
-
I keep telling 'em to clean up their things, but they never listen.
Fiction book (1991) -
I'm just gonna stay here and clean up this mess.
-
And get in there and clean up those dishes.
-
I notice who is there to clean up afterward and who is not.
Academic text (2011) -
Well, as long as you're here, you can help clean up a little.
Fiction book (1991) -
"Come along and I'll help you clean up," she told Dilly.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To remove dirt and stains
161
1.6
Make a place or things tidy and in order
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
18
3.6
To make something tidy and ready to use
13
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
12
3.2
To make a place tidy and organized
10
1.8
To take things away from a place to make it tidy
8
3.0
Remove things from a surface to make it empty or clean
8
2.7
Make a room neat by putting things away
1
5.8
To clean and tidy a room to make it ready to use
1
3.7
To make something tidy by arranging things in order
1
7.2
Make a person or place look neater and nicer by cleaning and adding small things
1
1.0
To remove dirt or mud from a surface
1
4.1
To remove things you do not need to make a place tidy and easier to use
Antonyms
How Clean
- US
11
3.7
55
1.0
433
1.0
- Informal
32
1.5
8
2.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a visible compositional link: 'clean' (to be free from dirt or contaminants, and by extension abstinent) plus 'up' (completion) yields a sense of becoming fully 'clean.' However, the specific sense 'stop using drugs' is a sociolinguistic/metaphorical extension of 'clean' that many B1 learners would not reliably infer from the constituents without prior exposure, so the phrase is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Clean up paints a simple picture: someone sweeps, wipes, or puts things away until the room is tidy, with clean meaning remove dirt and up showing the job is finished. So, it means 'to make a place or things clean and tidy'.