Cleaner
adj, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person whose occupation is to clean things, especially rooms, floors, and windows.
"The cleaner worked, of course, at nights. He had to coal and light up the engine, as well as clean it, for the next day's work, which commenced with a light run to Barnham to "bring in the goods" from that station at about 6.30 a.m."
- 2 a preparation used in cleaning something wordnet
- 3 A device that cleans, such as the vacuum cleaner.
- 4 someone whose occupation is cleaning wordnet
- 5 A substance used for cleaning; especially, one retailed for that purpose and meant for use on things other than one's own body.
"Near-synonym: cleaning fluid"
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- 6 the operator of dry-cleaning establishment wordnet
- 7 A professional laundry or dry cleaner (business). in-plural
"I'll have to take this shirt to the cleaners."
- 8 A fixer; a person who disposes of bodies and evidence. idiomatic, informal
- 1 Comparative form of clean: more clean. comparative, form-of
"Diesel No. C222 was shunting near the shed, as was a 4-4-0 with a very large-looking boiler, No. 306, which was much the cleaner of the two."
Example
More examples"Mac helped me carry the vacuum cleaner."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English clener, clenere, equivalent to clean + -er (agent noun suffix).
Inherited from Middle English clener, clenner, clanner, clannere, from Old English clǣnra, clǣnre (“cleaner, purer, clearer”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainiʀō (“daintier, more delicate”), from Proto-Germanic *klainizô (“shinier, finer, more splendid”), equivalent to clean + -er.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.