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Synonyms

clean out

British  

verb

  1. to remove (something) (from or away from)

  2. slang to leave (someone) with no money

    gambling had cleaned him out

  3. informal to exhaust (stocks, goods, etc) completely

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
clean out Idioms  

  1. See clean up , def. 1.

  2. Empty something of its contents, leave bare. For example, The crows cleaned out the whole field of corn , or At the shop's first sale the customers cleaned out the entire stock of shoes . [Mid-1800s]

  3. Deprive of money or other material resources. This usage originated in gambling, where it signified losing one's last stake. Charles Dickens had it in Oliver Twist (1838): “He has cleaned me out, but I can go and earn some more.” [Early 1800s]

  4. Drive out by force, as in The new CEO tried to get away with cleaning out all employees over the age of 60 . [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

To decrease the cost of moving, clean out as much stuff as possible beforehand.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 23, 2026

Now the sisters have uneasily reunited after their father’s death to clean out the family home before it will be sold.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026

Margins were compressed by Nike’s efforts to clean out old inventory and bring in new products.

From Barron's • Dec. 18, 2025

"I felt pretty good. Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it's a really good thing," Scheffler said.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2025

And then V noticed one particular fist-size photo in the bottom left corner that, for just a moment, elbowed all thoughts of the chameleon clean out of her head.

From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.