housecleaning

housecleaning
   American
   the elimination of undesirable or embarrassing items
   The imagery comes from the annual major assault that used to be made in the spring on carpets, curtains, etc. It refers to an investigation and subsequent reorganization in an institution when inefficiency or corruption have reached levels which threaten the security of those in charge; and to the destruction of records which might embarrass them:
    In the afternoon hours of August 8, Ford staff members heard of frantic housecleaning under way at the White House. (Colodny and Gettlin, 1991, describing the aftermath to Watergate)

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • housecleaning — ☆ housecleaning [hous′klēn΄iŋ ] n. 1. the cleaning of the furniture, floors, woodwork, etc. of a house 2. a getting rid of superfluous things, undesirable conditions, etc. houseclean vi., vt …   English World dictionary

  • housecleaning — noun 1. (figurative) the act of reforming by the removal of unwanted personnel or practices or conditions more housecleaning is in store at other accounting firms many employees were discharged in a general housecleaning by the new owners • Usage …   Useful english dictionary

  • housecleaning — noun Collectively, the tasks involved with cleaning a house; the practice of cleaning a house. If you do not keep up with the housecleaning, you will soon have a huge mess …   Wiktionary

  • housecleaning — noun a general reorganising of a business ● She has mainly been performing housecleaning measures …   Dictionary of banking and finance

  • housecleaning — noun see houseclean …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 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… …   Universalium

  • housecleaning — (Roget s Thesaurus II) noun Informal. A thorough or drastic reorganization: overhaul, shakeup. See CHANGE …   English dictionary for students

  • housecleaning — n. cleaning of a housev. clean a house, tidy up a house …   English contemporary dictionary

  • 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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