hand-held vacuum
- noun
- /ˈhændˌhɛld ˈvækjuːm/
- I bought a hand-held vacuum yesterday.
Examples
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She quickly grabbed the hand-held vacuum to clean up the crumbs on the sofa.
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This new hand-held vacuum runs for thirty minutes on a single charge.
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A compact hand-held vacuum is perfect for cleaning car interiors and small spaces.
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This hand-held vacuum is perfect for quick clean-ups.
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She used her new hand-held vacuum to quickly clean up the crumbs from the kitchen floor.
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The hand-held vacuum is perfect for removing pet hair from furniture.
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After the party, we took out the hand-held vacuum to tidy up the living room.
Synonyms
A machine that cleans floors and carpets by sucking up dust and dirt
An electric machine that cleans floors and carpets by sucking up dust
A machine that removes dust and dirt from floors and carpets
A small portable machine that sucks up dirt from small areas
A small vacuum you hold to clean crumbs in cars or on sofas
A small portable cleaner you hold in one hand to clean small messes
How Portable
Surface Forms
Morphology
hand-held + vacuum
The meaning 'a small, portable vacuum cleaner' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'hand-held' (able to be held in the hand / portable) with 'vacuum' (a cleaning appliance). This adjective+noun composition is a common, compositional pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The name hand-held vacuum comes from the simple picture of a small cleaner you can hold in your hand: the hand-held part shows you hold it and the vacuum part shows it uses suction to take up dirt. So, the name means a 'small', 'portable' cleaner for quick messes.