cleaning

[klee-ning]

noun

1. an act or instance of making clean.

   Give the house a good cleaning.

2. Slang.,  an overwhelming or complete defeat, financial loss, or failure.

   Our team took a cleaning in yesterday's game.

3. Informal.,  killing.

Other Word Forms

• self-cleaning adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cleaning¹

First recorded in 1655–75; clean + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Buildings constructed directly on the sand and mechanical beach cleaning also reduce species richness and biomass.

Read more on Science Daily

The car had been hit as it passed in front of his house, and he was still cleaning up the veranda.

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A household staff, provided by the Navy, does the cooking, cleaning and maintenance work on the 9,000- square foot home.

Read more on Salon

So my first acting job was cold-calling customers and reading a script to sell them a cleaning product.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They tend to go on sale at the end of the year, pushed down by others who are cleaning up their portfolios.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• purification 
• sanitation 
• sterilization 
• washing