spring-cleaning
Americannoun
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a complete cleaning of a place, as a home, done traditionally in the spring of the year.
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the activity of giving a place a complete cleaning.
We've been involved in spring-cleaning and are exhausted.
Etymology
Origin of spring-cleaning
First recorded in 1855–60
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.
Cataloging what I have — and tossing anything expired, dubious or otherwise a little grim — feels like a miniature form of spring cleaning.
From Salon • May 12, 2026
But bosses say the spring cleaning of the group's pipeline is needed to refocus and get the reorganisation off on the right foot in a market that has become pickier and more competitive than ever.
From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026
But because I am also constantly reckoning with a pesky sense of dread regarding obligations of any size, I also find the concept of spring cleaning over-ambitious and intimidating.
From New York Times • Mar. 30, 2024
Open days at the start of the season - a chance for spring cleaning and much-needed renewal - saw just half a dozen or so turn out.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2023
It had never had what servants are fond of calling a spring cleaning.
From Girls of the Forest by Meade, L. T.
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.
