Language: en
Meaning: (literal)Tocleanandarrangein an orderly manner thefurnishingsand other contents of one's house.Synonym:clean house1914,Mary Roberts Rinehart, chapter 13, inThe Street of Seven Stars:First she hadput her house in order, working deftly, her pretty hair pinned up in a towel—all in order but Peter's room. That was to have a special cleaning later.1998,Claudia L. Bushman,A Good Poor Man's Wife,→ISBN,page112:It took Harriet a full month or more each spring toput her house in order. Washing windows, arranging drawers, sweeping, and dusting were relatively simple tasks, amounting to two or three days' work in each room. It was the carpets that constituted the major chore.; (idiomatic)Toorganizeone'sfinancialand other affairs, especially in preparation for alife-changingevent.Synonym:put one's affairs in order1611,The Holy Bible,[…](King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker,[…],→OCLC,2 Samuel17:23::And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, andput his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.1876,Anthony Trollope, chapter 14, inThe Prime Minister:But before doing so he thought it to be expedient toput his house in order, so that he might be able to make a statement of his affairs if asked to do so.1907,David Graham Phillips, chapter 5, inThe Second Generation:"I mustput my house in order—in order. Draw up a will and bring it to me before five o'clock."2010May 20, Agnes T. Crane, Christopher Swann, “U.S. Dollar a Haven, but for How Long?”, inNew York Times, retrieved3 November 2013:The message from the euro zone should be loud and clear: if lawmakers don'tput their house in order, markets eventually will do it for them.
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