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

Homeowners thought they were hiring cleaners, but according to Los Angeles police, they instead got cleaned out.

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And I’m cleaning out my house, getting rid of things that no longer serve me ...

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

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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.

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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.

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Related Words

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