What Does Clean Your Clock Mean?
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Generally, this phrase is used to describe someone who has won in a competition. If someone wins a tennis match without a single point scored against him, it would be said that he cleaned his opponent’s clock.
Sometimes, people use this to describe physically attacking and beating someone.
This expression originated during the 1900s. It is possibly related to the idea that a clock has a face, and cleaning someone’s clock often implies punching someone in the face.
The word clean also had a slang definition meaning to defeat or beat since the 1800s.
In the example below, two friends are playing a game of strategy with each other.
Ted: Ha! I’ve won! Admit defeat!
Rufio: You haven’t won yet. See! Look at this.
Ted: Oh no, I didn’t realize you could do that.
Rufio: Well, I can, and now I’m going to clean your clock!
Ted: You can try, but I still have a few ideas on how to win.
This dialogue shows a woman talking with her friend about someone who threatened to attack her.
Zayna: Hey! I had the wildest day today. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.
Ben: Sure I would. What happened?
Zayna: Well, I found this really good sale at my favorite clothing store. You know the one? It’s always really expensive, but today they had this amazing sale. So the whole place was super crowded.
Ben: So what happened there?
Zayna: I found this beautiful shirt, and it was the last one in my size. Anyway, this other woman saw it just a couple seconds after I did. So she grabbed it and tried to take it away from me!
Ben: What did you do?
Zayna: I pulled it away from her and ran towards the registers, so I could buy it. The woman started to chase me and yelled at me, “I’ll clean your clock!” I was so scared. I really thought she was going to attack me.
The excerpt below talks about a woman who stood up to a man in powerful position.
This excerpt is from a review of a play.
The phrase to clean someone’s clock means to threaten someone physically or to defeat a person completely.