Meanings
nounclean-up (countable and uncountable, plural clean-ups)
plural clean-ups
- alternativecountableuncountableAlternative spelling of cleanup.
Since no brushes are required, clean-up is reduced to a minimum, and intricately carved, shaped, or hard-to-paint surfaces become as simple to do as any flat board.
1958 November 16, Bernard Gladstone, “Spray It On: Homeowners Use Aerosols to Speed Many Jobs of Maintenance”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
Origin
Deverbal from clean up.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
clean-up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-up
MLA
“clean-up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-up. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clean-up,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clean-up.
Source: clean-up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.