cleaning

Pluralcleanings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The process of removing dirt, dust, or stains so that something becomes clean.

   A thorough cleaning of the kitchen revealed years of grease behind the stove.

   Regular cleaning keeps the machinery running smoothly throughout the season.

   Similarwashing, scrubbing, cleansing

   Note

   The noun counts in two ways. As a mass noun it names the activity in general: regular cleaning keeps machinery running. As a count noun it names one bout of it, which is why Jane E. Brody could write in the New York Times of regular periodontal cleanings, and why a neglected machine is said to need a good cleaning. An article or a plural is the clearest sign the word is acting as a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of clean.

   He is cleaning the windows while the weather holds.

   The volunteers are cleaning the beach this weekend.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every use of the verb into progressive and gerund positions, including the specialist ones. A climber cleaning a route strips out the gear left by the lead climber. A curler cleaning the ice brushes lightly ahead of a moving stone, more gently than a sweep. With a direct object it is still plainly a verb: cleaning the windows, cleaning unneeded files out of a directory.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The afterbirth: the placenta and membranes expelled by a cow, ewe, or similar animal after giving birth.

   After the ewe lambed, the shepherd waited for the cleaning to be expelled.

   A cow that retains its cleaning for too long may develop an infection.

   Similarafterbirth

   Note

   A farmyard word for something vets and doctors call the placenta. Henry Stephens, writing about livestock in 1844, glosses it himself as "afterbirth, or placenta" and speaks of a cow "getting quit of the cleaning." It belongs to talk of cattle and sheep. For humans, afterbirth or placenta is the word to use, and the context usually keeps this sense from being confused with housework.

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