单词 | to clean up one's act |
释义 | > as lemmasto clean up one's act P11. colloquial (originally U.S.). to clean up one's act: to start behaving more appropriately, responsibly, or acceptably; to give up bad behaviour, illegal activity, drug use, etc.In quot. 1950 with literal reference to a stage act. ΚΠ 1950 Chicago Tribune 2 June i. 16/5 Since..she is coming back as a guest on his show next Tuesday we hope that she will utilize the time in cleaning up her act. It was too suggestive for TV last Tuesday. 1966 N.Y. Times 30 Dec. 19/4 Did the early Dallas teams have bad guys?.. ‘They're all gone now and I'm still here. I've cleaned up my act.’ 1988 ‘Ultra Violet’ Famous for 15 Minutes xxx. 251 He planned to clean up his act, but in a last celebration bought a speedball, a mixture of coke and heroin. 1992 Economist 15 Feb. 28/3 Newspapers were given 18 months from January last year to clean up their act. If they failed, a law would be introduced to restrict their freedom to invade people's privacy. 2003 D. Gaines Misfit's Manifesto ix. 174 I wondered if maybe we, too, could go ‘New Way’. Clean up our act, make ourselves more acceptable. < as lemmas |
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