housecleaning

housecleaning
/hows"klee'ning/, n.
1. the act of cleaning a house, room, etc., and its furnishings, esp. the act of cleaning thoroughly and completely.
2. the act of improving or reforming by weeding out excess or corrupt personnel or of revising methods of operation.
[1860-65; HOUSE + CLEANING]

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • housecleaning — noun see houseclean …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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  • housecleaning — house•clean•ing [[t]ˈhaʊsˌkli nɪŋ[/t]] n. 1) the thorough cleaning of a house or apartment and its furnishings 2) the reforming of an organization, system, or the like by eliminating personnel or revising methods of operation • Etymology: 1860–65 …   From formal English to slang

  • Political Housecleaning —    Reinhard Heydrich’s euphemism for the orders given to the Einsatzkommandos to eliminate the clergy, the aristocracy, the intelligentsia, and the Jews, following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 …   Historical dictionary of the Holocaust

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