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take to the cleaners. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
take to the cleaners, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
take to the cleaners in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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take to the cleaners, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Humorous alteration of the older expression to clean (someone) out.
Pronunciation
Verb
take to the cleaners (third-person singular simple present takes to the cleaners, present participle taking to the cleaners, simple past took to the cleaners, past participle taken to the cleaners)
- (originally US) To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc.
1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest:“That’s not the idea. These people you want taken to the cleaners were friends of yours yesterday. Maybe they will be friends again next week. I don’t care about that. But I’m not playing politics for you. […]
1934 October 25, “Dizzy and Daffy Begin Careers in Vaudeville”, in The Washington Reporter, retrieved 5 August 2013, page 12:Dizzy refused to pose with a blonde chorine clad only in step-ins. "No sir," exploded Dizzy. ". . . [M]y wife would take me to the cleaners if she saw a picture like that."
1983, Billy Joel (lyrics and music), “Easy Money”, in An Innocent Man:Take me to the power, take me to the heat / Take me to the cleaners if it's open to the street / Something's got to pay off, something's got to break / Someone's got a fortune that they're begging me to take
1984 October 15, “Tax and Spend”, in Time, retrieved 5 August 2013:George Bush paid the IRS $198,000 in back taxes and interest, and he is planning to sue, if necessary, to get his money back. "I'm the guy that's been taken to the cleaners," Bush said last week.
1995, Paul Kaye, Anthony Hines, Anyone for Pennis?, spoken by Dennis Pennis (Paul Kaye):Did your ex-wife ever go to the laundrette? Or is it just her husband that she takes to the cleaners, man?
2011, Amy Winehouse (lyrics and music), “Between the Cheats”, in Hidden Treasures:'Cause anyone who's seen us / Through our victories and dumb defeats / Knows that I'll take you to the cleaners / If you come between the cheats
2018 September 13, Marcel Theroux, “Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart review – America’s new age of discontent”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:These give the book its basic form: a master of the universe adrift in the country he helped take to the cleaners.
- (slang) To thrash someone.
Translations
to take a significant amount of money or valuables
Further reading
- Jonathon Green (2024) “take to the cleaners v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
- “take to the cleaners”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Eric Partridge (2005) “take to the cleaners”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 427.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “cleaner”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “take to the cleaners”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.