swamp out

English

Verb

swamp out (third-person singular simple present swamps out, present participle swamping out, simple past and past participle swamped out)

1. To clean or tidy, especially a place that is very messy.
   • 1992, Dana Stabenow, A Cold Day for Murder, →ISBN, page 58:

     The room hadn't been swamped out in memory of man, and it smelled strongly of stale cigarette smoke and vomit.

   • 2002, Mike McConnell, Bear Tales and Deer Trails, →ISBN, page 155:

     Little Jim and I went back into the galley to help Pop swamp out the mess, and by the time we had the galley squared away, Steve was idling into the anchorage behind Clam Island.

   • 2009, Thomas Savage, Annie Proulx, The Power of the Dog: A Novel, →ISBN:

     Although on Sundays when the men had finished feeding cattle, the rest of the afternoon was free—free to oil their leather goods, to wash their duds, to write letters (if they could write), to swamp out the bunkhouse or read the cowboy stories in the magazines they laughed at and secretly believed—still they weren't comfortable in the bunkhouse if George was abroad; he had a queer authority without even knowing it, an ability to upset you, maybe because he so seldom opened his talker and his silence mad you look in upon yourself, on the guilt you always knew was there.

2. To overwhelm or outnumber.