| 释义 |
clean-up
[See clean n.]
An act of cleaning or cleaning up (see clean v. 6).
a1889Mod. colloq. Put the machine in order, and give it a little clean-up. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 9 Apr. 9/3 The Mayor stated that Wednesday, April 20, had been decided upon as clean-up day, and asked for the co-operation of the council. 1924R. Macaulay Orphan Island ii. 22 We had a great clean up and a grand rummage among your Grandfather's old things. 1940‘N. Blake’ Malice in Wonderland i. vii. 97 He..has a general clean-up, puts on more respectable clothes. 1960Design July 39/2 These sections are urgently in need of a typographic clean up.
b. spec. in Mining: ‘the operation of collecting all the valuable product of a given period or operation in a stamp mill, or in a hydraulic or placer mine’ (Raymond). orig. U.S.
1866Congress. Globe 18 June 3231/1 When what they technically call in mining the clean up comes, very often the clean-up exhibits the lofty sum of nothing. a1870B. Harte Brown of Calaveras (Hoppe), Can't you help me with a hundred till to-morrow's clean-up? 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 211 A week's clean-up was reported to be usually from $2,000 to $3,000 in bullion. 1872Mark Twain Roughing it xliii. (Hoppe), Bullion returns, clean-ups at the quartz mills, and inquests. 1892Daily News 27 Aug. 7/3 Palmarejo.—Result of the clean-up for July, 28,000 dols. 1908Daily Report 20 July 3/3 There will be some prolongation of the life of the outcrop area from the clean-up of the old stopes. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 13 July 3/2 The plates became so heavily loaded with gold that it was necessary to stop the mill and make a clean up.
c. A profit; an exceptional financial success; also, a robbery or its proceeds. slang (orig. U.S.).
1878F. H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club (ed. 2) iii. 21 At the same time make a nice little clean-up for himself. 1928E. Wallace Gunner xxiv. 199 Sometimes weeks would pass before the gang could make a good clean-up. 1929Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking 265 It was the man's intention to make what I might term a quick clean-up immediately after dinner and escape on the nine-fifty-seven. 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) viii. 111 He was now a hundred pounds in debt; but that, for Alec, was practically no debt at all; one good clean-up..and he would be clear.
d. An act of removing or stamping out harmful or immoral influences or elements; also, a cleaning out of remaining pockets of (enemy) resistance. Cf. clean v. 6 c.
1930Amer. Speech VI. 114 Seven arrested in liquor clean-up. 1934S. Spender Vienna iii. 32 These murders lie on Fey Who boasted of his clean-up. 1935C. Isherwood Mr. Norris xvi. 270 Olga..had escaped the clean-up through the influence of one of her customers, an important Nazi official. 1940M. Sadleir Fanny by Gaslight i. viii. 70 The clamour for a London clean-up rose steadily throughout the year 1870; and as the appetite for victims grew among moralists and police alike, numerous informers helped to feed it. 1958Time 21 July 20 Corruption clean-ups.
Add:e. Baseball. Also cleanup. The fourth position in a team's batting order, usu. reserved for a strong batter whose hits are likely to enable any runner who is on base to score, thus clearing the bases. Freq. attrib., esp. as clean-up hitter or clean-up man.
[1907N.Y. Even. Jrnl. 16 Apr. 10/2 He has a splendid arm, and he can surely play the ball. He is the cleaner-up hitter of the team.] 1909Baseball Mag. Nov. 5/2 They are both batters of the ‘clean-up’ kind, that is, they are likely to break up a game at any moment. 1922N.Y. Times 3 June 10/1 He shifted..Meusel and Ross Young in the order of facing opposing pitchers, the former going to the clean-up position. 1955E. Burkholder Baseball Immortals App. 133 Frank Delahanty, that old time slugger in clean up. 1984Gainesville (Florida) Sun 26 Mar. 1b/5 UF chose to pitch to cleanup man Clark, who popped to UF catcher Tim Owen. 1991D. Lamb Stolen Season iii. 40 Then L.A.'s clean-up hitter Clarence Maddern smacked a fastball..that soared over the left-field fence. |