See take to the cleaners in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for take to the cleaners meaning in English (5.8kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "clean out",
"3": "to clean (someone) out"
},
"expansion": "to clean (someone) out",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Humorous alteration of the older expression to clean (someone) out.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "takes to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "taking to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "took to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "taken to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "take<,,took,taken> to the cleaners"
},
"expansion": "take to the cleaners (third-person singular simple present takes to the cleaners, present participle taking to the cleaners, simple past took to the cleaners, past participle taken to the cleaners)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "88 12",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest",
"text": "“That’s not the idea. These people you want taken to the cleaners were friends of yours yesterday. Maybe they will be friends again next week. I don’t care about that. But I’m not playing politics for you.[…]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1934 October 25, “Dizzy and Daffy Begin Careers in Vaudeville”, in The Washington Reporter, retrieved 2013-08-05, page 12",
"text": "Dizzy refused to pose with a blonde chorine clad only in step-ins. \"No sir,\" exploded Dizzy. \". . . [M]y wife would take me to the cleaners if she saw a picture like that.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1983, Billy Joel (lyrics and music), “Easy Money”, in An Innocent Man",
"text": "Take me to the power, take me to the heat / Take me to the cleaners if it's open to the street / Something's got to pay off, something's got to break / Someone's got a fortune that they're begging me to take",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1984 October 15, “Tax and Spend”, in Time, retrieved 2013-08-05",
"text": "George Bush paid the IRS $198,000 in back taxes and interest, and he is planning to sue, if necessary, to get his money back. \"I'm the guy that's been taken to the cleaners,\" Bush said last week.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1995, Paul Kaye, Anthony Hines, Anyone for Pennis?, spoken by Dennis Pennis (Paul Kaye)",
"text": "Did your ex-wife ever go to the laundrette? Or is it just her husband that she takes to the cleaners, man?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2007 February 4, Scott Shane, Ron Nixon, “U.S. contractors becoming a virtual fourth branch of government”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-08-05",
"text": "\"Billions of dollars are being squandered, and the taxpayer is being taken to the cleaners,\" Waxman said.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Amy Winehouse (lyrics and music), “Between the Cheats”, in Hidden Treasures",
"text": "'Cause anyone who's seen us / Through our victories and dumb defeats / Knows that I'll take you to the cleaners / If you come between the cheats",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2018 September 13, Marcel Theroux, “Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart review – America’s new age of discontent”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "These give the book its basic form: a master of the universe adrift in the country he helped take to the cleaners.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc."
],
"id": "en-take_to_the_cleaners-en-verb-sLmaZsS9",
"links": [
[
"money",
"money"
],
[
"valuables",
"valuables"
],
[
"overcharging",
"overcharge"
],
[
"litigation",
"litigation"
],
[
"investing",
"investing"
],
[
"gambling",
"gambling"
],
[
"fraud",
"fraud"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(originally US) To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "67 33",
"word": "take to the cleaner's"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "pelar"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "kyniä"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "schröpfen"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "ausnehmen"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "puszczać z torbami"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "puścić z torbami"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Mr. Big Nose (Michael Palin)",
"text": "One more time, mate, I'll take you to the fuckin' cleaners!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To thrash someone."
],
"id": "en-take_to_the_cleaners-en-verb-ggIogXU-",
"links": [
[
"thrash",
"thrash"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(slang) To thrash someone."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-take to the cleaners.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7e/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "take to the cleaners"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English verbs"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "clean out",
"3": "to clean (someone) out"
},
"expansion": "to clean (someone) out",
"name": "m"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Humorous alteration of the older expression to clean (someone) out.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "takes to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "taking to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "took to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "taken to the cleaners",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "take<,,took,taken> to the cleaners"
},
"expansion": "take to the cleaners (third-person singular simple present takes to the cleaners, present participle taking to the cleaners, simple past took to the cleaners, past participle taken to the cleaners)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest",
"text": "“That’s not the idea. These people you want taken to the cleaners were friends of yours yesterday. Maybe they will be friends again next week. I don’t care about that. But I’m not playing politics for you.[…]",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1934 October 25, “Dizzy and Daffy Begin Careers in Vaudeville”, in The Washington Reporter, retrieved 2013-08-05, page 12",
"text": "Dizzy refused to pose with a blonde chorine clad only in step-ins. \"No sir,\" exploded Dizzy. \". . . [M]y wife would take me to the cleaners if she saw a picture like that.\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1983, Billy Joel (lyrics and music), “Easy Money”, in An Innocent Man",
"text": "Take me to the power, take me to the heat / Take me to the cleaners if it's open to the street / Something's got to pay off, something's got to break / Someone's got a fortune that they're begging me to take",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1984 October 15, “Tax and Spend”, in Time, retrieved 2013-08-05",
"text": "George Bush paid the IRS $198,000 in back taxes and interest, and he is planning to sue, if necessary, to get his money back. \"I'm the guy that's been taken to the cleaners,\" Bush said last week.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1995, Paul Kaye, Anthony Hines, Anyone for Pennis?, spoken by Dennis Pennis (Paul Kaye)",
"text": "Did your ex-wife ever go to the laundrette? Or is it just her husband that she takes to the cleaners, man?",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2007 February 4, Scott Shane, Ron Nixon, “U.S. contractors becoming a virtual fourth branch of government”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-08-05",
"text": "\"Billions of dollars are being squandered, and the taxpayer is being taken to the cleaners,\" Waxman said.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Amy Winehouse (lyrics and music), “Between the Cheats”, in Hidden Treasures",
"text": "'Cause anyone who's seen us / Through our victories and dumb defeats / Knows that I'll take you to the cleaners / If you come between the cheats",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2018 September 13, Marcel Theroux, “Lake Success by Gary Shteyngart review – America’s new age of discontent”, in The Guardian, →ISSN",
"text": "These give the book its basic form: a master of the universe adrift in the country he helped take to the cleaners.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc."
],
"links": [
[
"money",
"money"
],
[
"valuables",
"valuables"
],
[
"overcharging",
"overcharge"
],
[
"litigation",
"litigation"
],
[
"investing",
"investing"
],
[
"gambling",
"gambling"
],
[
"fraud",
"fraud"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(originally US) To take a significant quantity of a person's money or valuables, through overcharging, litigation, unfavorable investing, gambling, fraud, etc."
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English slang",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Mr. Big Nose (Michael Palin)",
"text": "One more time, mate, I'll take you to the fuckin' cleaners!",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To thrash someone."
],
"links": [
[
"thrash",
"thrash"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(slang) To thrash someone."
],
"tags": [
"slang"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-take to the cleaners.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/7e/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/En-au-take_to_the_cleaners.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "take to the cleaner's"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "pelar"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "kyniä"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "schröpfen"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"word": "ausnehmen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
],
"word": "puszczać z torbami"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to take a significant amount of money or valuables",
"tags": [
"perfective"
],
"word": "puścić z torbami"
}
],
"word": "take to the cleaners"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (4d5d0bb and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.