spring-cleaning

[ spring-klee-ning ]

noun
  1. a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.

  2. the activity of giving a place a complete cleaning: We've been involved in spring-cleaning and are exhausted.

Origin of spring-cleaning

1
First recorded in 1855–60

Words Nearby spring-cleaning

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use spring-cleaning in a sentence

  • In the first week of April, the badger's spring-cleaning began in downright earnest.

    Creatures of the Night | Alfred W. Rees
  • The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.

    The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame
  • The vanity of some women is such that some expect a pedestal—nay, an altar—when the spring-cleaning of their house is over.

  • Did Scarlett tell her himself in an access of moral spring-cleaning preparatory to matrimony?

    Red Pottage | Mary Cholmondeley
  • He would bring back the spring-cleaning requisites on his bicycle that evening.

    If Winter Don't | Barry Pain