The process of cleaning clothes and other fabrics without using water, instead using solvents and specialized equipment.

present participle of dry clean

(transitive) To clean, especially to tidy by removing the contents. / (transitive, slang) To take all money or possessions from. / (transitive, dated, slang) To hit or strike (someone); to beat up.

(cricket) To bowl a batsman out with the ball hitting neither the bat nor the pads on the way to the stumps.

(idiomatic) To confess; admit the truth. / 1921, B. M. Bower, chapter 6, in Sawtooth Ranch: / 1977 Oct. 23, John Gardner, "The World Of Tolkien," New York Times (retrieved 12 Sept 2013):

(weightlifting) The act of lifting the barbell from the floor to a resting position across the front of the shoulders (the clean phase), pausing, and thrusting the barbell over the head to a stationary position in one movement (the jerk phase). The normal technique for both parts of this act involves propelling the barbell upwards, quickly lowering the torso, and then straightening the legs.

Very clean. / Beyond reproach, honest.

To clean with a vacuum cleaner.

(chiefly UK) Innocent and candid; free from corruption.

(nautical) a slate on which the courses steered by a ship (and distances run) were recorded, but have been wiped clean after being entered in the log at the end of a watch / (by extension) a fresh start