clean house
Idioms-
Wipe out corruption or inefficiency, as in It's time the Republican Party cleaned house . This usage is most often applied to an organization. [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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Punish, give a beating, as in Whenever he was drunk he threatened to clean house on one and all . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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.
Mayor Ramírez wasn’t the first local politician to try to clean house.
From Los Angeles Times
He coached briefly on his father’s staff in Minnesota, only for the Timberwolves to clean house soon after.
From Los Angeles Times
But there’s reason to wonder if it is effectively cleaning house.
From Los Angeles Times
As she cleans house, Linda quietly taps a button on her digital watch to time each chore, recording the tally in a journal once it is completed.
From Salon
Ms Duyile paid tribute to her Hannah’s selfless nature, saying she would clean house without asking and looked after her sister.
From BBC
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.
