Have you heard the phrase ‘spring clean’ before? This phrase can be used as a noun (a spring clean) or as a verb (to spring clean). A spring clean is a deep and thorough cleaning of a place. It typically takes place in the spring, a season associated with rebirth, renewal, and starting again, but you can do a spring clean at any time of year that you feel like it!
With Spring just around the corner, in today’s blog post, we’ll take a look at some useful cleaning phrases and phrasal verbs.
To spruce up
This informal phrasal verb means to clean a place, to make it look new or refreshed.
We have repainted the kitchen and hung some new pictures on the walls. It’s really spruced the place up!
To mop up
There are several cleaning verbs in English where we can use the verb with or without the preposition and it essentially means the same thing. It is more common, however, to use the full phrasal verb. ‘Mop’ is an example of this. Mop is both the object and the verb. To mop up means to clean a mess using a mop.
Oh no! I’ve spilt some orange juice. Let me mop it up.
To tidy up
To tidy means to clean a place and make it orderly and organised again. We often use the verb ‘tidy’ with ‘up’.
I tidied up my office yesterday. My desk is so much clearer now, and it’s a better working environment.
To sweep up
The action to sweep means to use a broom to collect dust or items from the floor. We often use it with ‘up’.
The floor is looking very dirty after the party. We need to sweep up.
To wash up
This phrasal verb means to wash the dishes.
The mother reminded her teenage son to wash up the dishes after cooking.
To dust down
To dust, we can use a feather duster or a rag. We often use this cleaning verb with ‘down’.
The house had been uninhabited for a couple of months, so we had to dust down all the furniture.
To clear out
To clear out means to get rid of items that you no longer need or want. We often use this as a noun phrase too. (For example, “We are having a clear-out.”)
I’m clearing out my closet and giving all the clothes that no longer fit me to charity.
To finish, let’s look at four common English idioms on the topic of cleaning.
Cleaning idioms
Take someone to the cleaners
This idiom means to get as much money out of someone as possible, often through dishonest means. It is often used to describe divorce settlements or legal battles. It can also be used to describe a defeat in a sports context where one team completely dominates the other.
It was a very disheartening match to attend. We were absolutely taken to the cleaners by the away team!
Sweep something under the rug
This idiom means to dismiss, ignore, or try to hide a problem without addressing it.
The parents were embarrassed and rather than address the root cause, tried to sweep their son’s behavioural issues under the rug.
Come clean
To come clean means to admit to something.
After the investigation exposed his lies, the politician was forced to come clean about how he’d really spent the money.
Elbow grease
Elbow grease means strong physical force used to clean something. This is possibly coming from the fact that you need to really engage your elbows?!
It’s going to require some elbow grease to get these wine stains out of the cream carpet.
I hope you found these cleaning phrases useful! Will you be conducting a spring clean this year? What is your most and least favourite cleaning task? Let us know in the comments!