clean out

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

Idioms and Phrases

See clean up , def. 1.

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]

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]

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

Forty years later, he came across them while cleaning out his attic; among the wares was an old football helmet.

From Los Angeles Times

Fans have also cleaned out the gift shop at the National Museum of Korea, which has run out of a traditional tiger pin that resembles one of the movie’s characters.

From Los Angeles Times

And she often wore T-shirts and sweatshirts with birds on them, one of which I took home with me after helping to clean out her house after she’d died.

From Salon

Usyk has not just cleaned out his biggest rivals - Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Dubois - but he has gone all the way round the block and defeated each of them twice.

From BBC

He sedated the cat, cleaned out the wound and stitched it up at a cost of £93.19.

From BBC

Related Words

• bankrupt 
• crush 
• decimate 
• demolish 
• deplete 
• exhaust 
• impoverish 
• injure 
• mar 
• overwhelm 
• raze 
• shatter 
• spoil 
• wipe out 
• wrack 
• wreck