CLEAN OUT – Phrasal Verb
What is the meaning of CLEAN OUT?
English teaching for English Language Learners (ELL) who are learning to speak English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as an Additional Language (EAL)
clean out something
clean something out
Definition 1
clean the inside of something by removing the unnecessary things that are inside
Examples
1. Now that the weather is warm, we want to clean out the garage this weekend. There are several things in there that we don’t need any more. We want to get rid of them.
2. I need to clean my car out. We took a road trip on the weekend and now my car is full of junk.
3. There is something growing in the back of our refrigerator. We need to clean it out after work tonight.
clean out someone
clean someone out
Definition 2
use or take all of someone’s money
Examples
1. She cleaned him out in their divorce. He will have to work until he is 80 years old!
2. The stock market crash cleaned out all his savings.
| present – | CLEAN OUT |
| present participle – | CLEANING OUT |
| past – | CLEANED OUT |
| past participle – | CLEANED OUT |
Note: Many phrasal verbs have more than one meaning. The definitions may not all be included here.
