clean out

phrasal verb

cleaned out; cleaning out; cleans out

1

: to remove unwanted things from (a room, closet, etc.)

We spent the weekend cleaning out the garage.

2

informal : to steal or take everything from (someone or something)

The thieves broke in and cleaned out the store.

3

informal : to use up all or most of the money of (someone)

Buying the house really cleaned us out. Now we're broke.

Examples of clean out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the local water management district wanted more and demanded that Koontz spend around $150,000 to clean out some district irrigation districts miles away from his property. —James Burling, Oc Register, 25 Sep. 2025

Use a toothpick or metal pin to clean out any remaining deposits. —Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 23 Sep. 2025

Carlsbad’s Agua Hedionda lagoon is cleaned out the most frequently, every four or five years, formerly to keep seawater flowing to the Encina power plant and now for the Carlsbad desalination plant. —Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Sep. 2025

She was intubated for nearly a week while medical staff at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola worked to save her, including repeatedly scrubbing and cleaning out her leg to remove any dying tissue. —Mollye Barrows, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2025

Rhymes for clean out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout