to clean up
86
2.0
- phrasal verb
- /ˈklin ʌp/
:
arreglarse
- "Give me ten minutes to get cleaned up and we can go."
- get cleaned up
- clean up nice
- go get cleaned up
I'm going to add my earrings and clean up and I am done.
- I'm going to add my earrings and clean up and I am done.
- OK now let's take a little bit of the concealer and let's clean up this brow.
- You know, like, what's the most enjoyable way to get cleaned up?
- OK, clean yourself up with that bitch.
- I was shopping, you know, and you know, we get me cleaned up, you know, we get some more painkillers in me.
Examples
-
"Get yourself cleaned up, then see what you can rustle up for dinner," he said.
Fiction book (1997) -
"I'm going to take a few minutes to get cleaned up, then start answering ads," I told Joan.
Fiction book (2001) -
Let's just use this to sort of clean up my face.
-
I do feel like I need to just clean up my lip a little bit.
-
I have a shower, you know, get fresh and cleaned up for the day.
-
Look, just get yourself cleaned up for the show tonight, all right?
-
Half an hour later, I was home, all cleaned up and waiting.
Fiction book (1995) -
Would you mind if I cleaned myself up first?
Fiction book (2000) -
"I'm going to the bathroom to clean up," I told the hostess.
Fiction book (2001) -
After the picnic, it was essential for everyone to clean up before leaving the park.
Synonyms
941
1.0
To clean something with water, often using soap
70
2.7
Make something or yourself smell and feel clean
43
3.4
Wash or tidy yourself to feel cleaner and look better
40
2.3
To make hair or fur clean and neat by brushing
33
3.0
Remove dirt and germs from a person's body by washing
13
3.8
To make yourself or a place look cleaner and nicer
11
1.0
To wash your hands and face to get clean
7
3.9
Make yourself look attractive by dressing and doing your hair or makeup
1
7.2
Make a person or place look neater and nicer by cleaning and adding small things
1
4.8
Make yourself or a place look neater and more stylish
To dress neatly and formally for an event
Antonyms
How Clean
40
2.3
941
1.0
- Informal
13
3.8
86
2.0
- Informal
43
3.4
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 (with clean + up) gives the image of washing your face, combing your hair and straightening your clothes until you look ready. That's why it means 'to make oneself clean, neat, and presentable'.