cleaner (redirected from taking to the cleaners)

take someone to the cleaners 

1. Sl. to take a lot of someone's money; to swindle someone. The lawyers took the insurance company to the cleaners, but I still didn't get enough to pay for my losses. The con artists took the old man to the cleaners.

2. Sl. to defeat or best someone. We took the other team to the cleaners. Look at the height they've got! They'll take us to the cleaners!

See also: take

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take somebody to the cleaner's 

1. (informal) to get a lot of money from someone, usually by cheating them He got into a game of poker with two professional gamblers and, of course, they took him to the cleaner's.

2. (informal) to defeat someone by a very large amount They don't like playing us because we took them to the cleaner's last year and the year before.

See also: take

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take somebody to the cleaners

to cheat someone of money Some people say the company took them to the cleaners by charging double for some services.

See also: take