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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

take to the cleaners en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

A humorous alteration of the older expression to clean (someone) out.

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, slang) To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc.
    • "Billions of dollars are being squandered, and the taxpayer is being taken to the cleaners," Waxman said. 2007 February 4, Scott Shane, Ron Nixon, “U.S. contractors becoming a virtual fourth branch of government”, in New York Times, retrieved 05 Aug 2013:
    • 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 1983, Billy Joel, “Easy Money”, in An Innocent Man:
    • “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.[…] 1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest:
    • These give the book its basic form: a master of the universe adrift in the country he helped take to the cleaners. 2018 September 13, Marcel Theroux, “Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart review – America’s new age of discontent”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
    • 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. 1984 October 15, “Tax and Spend”, in Time, retrieved 05 Aug 2013:
    • 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." 1934 October 25, “Dizzy and Daffy Begin Careers in Vaudeville”, in The Washington Reporter, retrieved 05 Aug 2013, page 12:
    • Did your ex-wife ever go to the laundrette? Or is it just her husband that she takes to the cleaners, man? 1995, Paul Kaye, Anthony Hines, Anyone for Pennis?, spoken by Dennis Pennis (Paul Kaye):
    • '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 2011, Amy Winehouse, “Between the Cheats”, in Hidden Treasures:
  2. (idiomatic, slang) To thrash someone.
    • One more time, mate, I'll take you to the fuckin' cleaners! 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Mr. Big Nose (Michael Palin):

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
takes to the cleaners Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
take to the cleaner's alternative lexicographic
took to the cleaners Tense=Past lexicographic
taking to the cleaners Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
taken to the cleaners Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (6)

pl puścić z torbami (to take a significant amount of money or valuables) · ca pelar (to take a significant amount of money or valuables) · de ausnehmen (to take a significant amount of money or valuables) · de schröpfen (to take a significant amount of money or valuables) · pl puszczać z torbami (to take a significant amount of money or valuables) · fi kyniä (to take a significant amount of money or valuables)