clean someone's clock
verbEtymology From clean (“to thrash, defeat”) and clock (“face”) as metonym for “guy”, “someone”.
1
Idiomatic, Informal To defeat someone decisively, in a physical fight or other competition or negotiation.
- "When big business goes head to head with unions, the unions clean their clock," said one Republican aide in Congress.1997 November 12, Richard W. Stevenson, “Executives Say Trade Bill Defeat Will Hurt Economy”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Oct 2008:
- Barack Obama cleaned her clock in the debates.2007 April 28, Carla Marinucci, “Hillary on a roll”, in San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 07 Oct 2008:
1 more example
- The heavily-tattooed Perez never recovered, getting nailed with flush head shots before a clean-up left hook cleaned his clock.2008 September 27, Jake Donovan, “Vicente Escobedo Rallies, Stops Dominic Salcido In Six”, in BoxingScene.com, retrieved 07 Oct 2008:
- Synonyms
- trounce, wipe the floor with someone
- Derived terms
- get one's clock cleaned