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Glite Dictionary
to spring-clean

to spring-clean

3 2.9
To clean the whole house very thoroughly, usually in spring
  • phrasal verb
  • /sprɪŋ klin/
translation icon : limpiar a fondo
  • In today's video, I'm going to be doing an extreme declutter or spring clean of my closet.
  • spring-clean your house
  • Start spring-cleaning
  • help you spring-clean

Examples

  • "It isn't part of my spring cleaning."

    Fiction book (1998)

  • One day a couple of months before, Molly Andree had been helping Chloe spring-clean the chandeliers.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We're going to spring clean our room as much as we can in the neck a little bit so.

  • So, as part of their pledge to spring clean the house, Google is now shutting down the Background Images project very soon on the coming 16th of November.

    Blog text (9)

  • Gran had gone on retreat to the Poor Clares convent in Dublin, and Nora, as a nice gesture, had flown over from Vienna to spring clean while she was away.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Now that spring has arrived, it's time to spring-clean the house and refresh our living space.

  • Every year, we spring-clean our entire home to get rid of dust and clutter from the winter months.

  • She spent the weekend spring-cleaning her apartment, making sure every corner was spotless.

Synonyms

to clean house
vsto spring-clean
21 1.0

To make a house clean and tidy by removing dirt and putting things in order

is about a complete, deep cleaning of the entire house done yearly
to houseclean
vsto spring-clean
  • US
2.1

To clean and tidy a house thoroughly and regularly

is done once a year at a specific season rather than regularly

How Thorough

to spring-clean
3 2.9
cleanup
150 1.5
to clean
∞ 1.0
to tidy
42 1.0

Surface Forms

spring-clean infinitive
spring-cleaned past
spring-cleaned past participle
spring-cleaning present participle
spring-cleans third person singular

Morphology

spring-clean = spring + clean (transparent) = spring + clean

The verb is a straightforward compound of 'spring' (season) + 'clean' meaning to clean in spring or perform a thorough cleaning, which is directly inferable from the parts.

Etymology

Spring-clean joins spring, the 'season after winter', and clean, meaning 'make free of dirt'. People used to open windows and wash the whole house when warm weather came, so to spring-clean is to clean the entire house thoroughly, usually once a year in spring.