spring cleaning

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English[edit]

Noun[edit]

spring cleaning (countable and uncountable, plural spring cleanings)

  1. A systematic cleaning of a residence at the end of winter
    • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, London: Methuen, page 1:
      The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of white-wash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms.
  2. (by extension) A systematic cleaning, reorganization, or weeding out of a system

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