take to the cleaners
English
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
take to the cleaners
Where it comes from
A humorous alteration of the older expression to clean (someone) out.
verb takes to the cleaners · taking to the cleaners · took to the cleaners · taken to the cleaners · take to the cleaner's
- To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc. “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.[…]
- To thrash someone. One more time, mate, I'll take you to the fuckin' cleaners!
Translations
Talk about this word "take to the cleaners." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/take%20to%20the%20cleaners. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. take to the cleaners. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/take%20to%20the%20cleaners "take to the cleaners." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/take%20to%20the%20cleaners.Cite this
@misc{take_to_the_cleaners_2026,
title = {take to the cleaners},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/take%20to%20the%20cleaners},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
