take to the cleaners
The phrase "take to the cleaners" is an idiomatic expression often used to describe situations involving financial loss or thorough defeat.
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Definition
C1General
(informal, slang)To cheat or swindle someone, resulting in significant financial loss.
Example
- The scam artist took him to the cleaners, leaving him with nothing.
B2Competition
(informal, slang)To thoroughly defeat or humiliate someone in a contest or argument.
Example
- They were taken to the cleaners in the final match, losing by a wide margin.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "take to the cleaners":
wipe the floor with someoneget taken insweep the boardtake for a rideclean houseclean outgive someone the businessbeat the stuffing out ofrake offbeat the daylights out ofbeat the dustrip offbleed dryclean sweepclean downscrub outcome cleanrake out