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Question 1

spring cleaning

Answer 1

a period of time spent cleaning a home very well, usually
once a year, getting rid of the things that one no longer wants or needs and
cleaning the things that one wants to keep
* The whole family got involved in spring cleaning: Mom cleaned the kitchen, Dad
worked floors and windows, and the kids cleaned out the closets.

Question 2

duster

broom

Answer 2

“I’ll get the duster, if you get the broom.”
A “broom” is typically a long pole
that has at one end either straw or plastic, and it’s used to clean a floor – to
sweep a floor.

Question 3

nit-picky

“nit pick”

Answer 3

one who pays a lot of attention to detail and is happy only if things
are a certain way; demanding
* Our teacher is so nit-picky that if we spell even one word wrong she makes us
do the whole assignment all over again

“You know how nit-picky my mother is and I want our house to be neat and tidy,”

Question 4

pigsty

Answer 4

a place where pigs live, also used to talk about a very dirty and
unorganized place
* Their whole house is very clean, except for their son’s room, which is a pigsty
with dirty clothes and pizza boxes all over the floor.

Question 5

pigsty

Answer 5

a place where pigs live, also used to talk about a very dirty and
unorganized place
* Their whole house is very clean, except for their son’s room, which is a pigsty
with dirty clothes and pizza boxes all over the floor.
“Fine, fine, I understand (she’s saying “okay, okay”). You don’t want
her to know we live in a pigsty.”

Question 6

dusty

Answer 6

covered with very small pieces of dirt
* The library has many old books that are dusty because they haven’t been
opened in years.

Question 7

to straighten up

Answer 7

to organize objects while cleaning; to put things away
* Miranda quickly straightened up the bathroom, hanging towels and putting
away her toothbrush.

Question 8

to pitch in

Answer 8

to help with a project; to give assistance to help complete
something
* Sheila said, “I wish you would pitch in around the house more, helping me cook
and clean.

Question 9

to slave away

Answer 9

to work very hard; to do difficult work for a long period of time
* After slaving away at work all day, Rolf wanted to come home, eat dinner, and
sleep

Question 10

neat freak

Answer 10

a person who always wants everything to be extremely clean and
organized
* Genevieve is such a neat freak that all her books and CDs are in alphabetical
order.

Question 11

spotless

Answer 11

perfectly clean, without any dirt or other problems

* Their home is so spotless that you could eat off the floor and not get sick!