[f. SPRING sb.1 6 b.] The general cleaning of a house, etc., usually performed in the spring. Also attrib.
1887. J. Ashby-Sterry, Lazy Minstrel (1892), 153. Spring Cleaning’s a terrible bore!
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 79. Things were in a spring-cleaning confusion.
Hence Spring-clean v.; Spring-cleaner.
1888. Daily New Era (Lancaster, PA), 14 Feb., 1/5. The so-called scorpions may be what are commonly known as ‘spring-cleaners,’ a little reptile resembling a scorpion, seen in almost any spring.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 July, 3/1. There are few points of mutual sympathy between the poet and the spring-cleaner.
1894. Daily News, 21 April, 6/6. Houseboat-owners are at present busily engaged in painting and spring-cleaning their craft.
