clean someone's clock

English

Etymology

Originally military slang; perhaps from clock face.

Pronunciation

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Verb

clean someone's clock (third-person singular simple present cleans someone's clock, present participle cleaning someone's clock, simple past and past participle cleaned someone's clock)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To defeat someone decisively, in a physical fight or other competition or negotiation.

   Synonym: fix someone's clock

   • 1997 November 12, Richard W. Stevenson, “Executives Say Trade Bill Defeat Will Hurt Economy”, in New York Times, retrieved 7 Oct. 2008:

     "When big business goes head to head with unions, the unions clean their clock," said one Republican aide in Congress.

   • 2007 April 28, Carla Marinucci, “Hillary on a roll”, in San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 7 Oct. 2008:

     Barack Obama cleaned her clock in the debates.

   • 2008 September 27, Jake Donovan, “Vicente Escobedo Rallies, Stops Dominic Salcido In Six”, in BoxingScene.com, retrieved 7 Oct. 2008:

     The heavily-tattooed Perez never recovered, getting nailed with flush head shots before a clean-up left hook cleaned his clock.

Synonyms

• mop the floor with somebody
• trounce

Derived terms

• get one's clock cleaned

 

Translations

defeat decisively

• Dutch: met iemand de vloer aanvegen;iemand uitschakelen
• French: battre à plate couture (fr)
• Russian: разде́лать под оре́х (ru) (razdélatʹ pod oréx), разма́зать по сте́нке (razmázatʹ po sténke)

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “get one's clock cleaned v).”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang