[f. the stem of the vb.]
An act of cleaning: chiefly in comb., as a clean up, clean out, etc. spec. (in U.S. Mining) clean-up: ‘the operation of collecting all the valuable product of a given period or operation in a stamp mill, or in a hydraulic or placer mine’ (Raymond).
1872. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 211. A week’s clean-up was reported to be usually from $2,000 to $3,000 in bullion.
1872. ‘Mark Twain,’ Roughing It, xliii. (Hoppe). Bullion returns, clean-ups at the quartz mills, and inquests.
18[?]. B. Harte, Brown of Calaveras (Hoppe). Can’t you help me with a hundred till to-morrow’s clean-up?
Mod. colloq. Give it a clean before returning it. Put the machine in order, and give it a little clean-up.
