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etymology - Origin and exact meaning of "taken to the cleaners"


I know the meaning of this phrase by context, but the German analogs are no literal translations of this phrase and very dissimilar metaphors, meaning roughly:



being tricked into something being pretty unprofitable for you (deal, duty or else)



A short Google search didn't show in-depth explanations. What is "cleaners" referring to here? Is this American or British English and in which branch arose this phrase?



Answer



Cleaners refers to a professional dry cleaning business. See this from The Phrase Finder:



TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS -- "Relived of one's money or aspirations, perhaps by flimflam; easily bested. The advent of professional dry cleaners not so many decades ago brought about this modernization of the earlier phrase 'cleaned out.' James H. Vaux, in his 'New and Comprehensive Vocabulary of the Flash (slang) Language' defined the older phrase as follows: 'Said of a gambler who has lost his stake at play; also of a flat (dupe) who has been stript of all his money.'" From "The Dictionary of Cliches" by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).



Etymonline has the "fleecing" sense from 1932, but I've turned up the broader sense used in print as early as 1929 from American mystery writer Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest:


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Frequency in print has increased fairly steadily since then.


Edit, 1/17/12


Etymonline has updated its entry on cleaner based on some antedatings found by @Hugo. It now lists "fleecing" sense from 1921.


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