sweep something under the rug

sweep something under the rug

English

Alternative forms

• sweep something under the carpet
• brush something under the rug
• brush something under the carpet

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

sweep something under the rug (third-person singular simple present sweeps something under the rug, present participle sweeping something under the rug, simple past and past participle swept something under the rug)

1. (idiomatic) To conceal a problem expediently, rather than remedy it thoroughly.
   • 2011 March 7, Brooks Barnes; Bill Carter; Michael Cieply, “Sheen Is Surrounded by a Coterie of Enablers”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     “One of the problems with the entertainment industry is that, to protect the image of these people, they try to deal with the problem by sweeping it under the rug,” said John T. Schwarzlose, chief executive of the Betty Ford Center, the licensed addiction hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Synonyms

• rug sweep

Translations

to conceal a problem expediently

Arabic: please add this translation if you can: Armenian: ծածկադմփոց անել (hy) (cackadmpʿocʿ anel) Chinese: Mandarin: 掩蓋某事／掩盖某事 (yǎngài mǒushì), 隱瞞某事／隐瞒某事 (yǐnmán mǒushì) Dutch: iets onder het tapijt vegen Finnish: lakaista jotakin maton alle French: cacher la poussière sous le tapis (fr) German: unter den Teppich kehren (de) Hindi: please add this translation if you can: Hungarian: a szőnyeg alá söpör Italian: please add this translation if you can: Japanese: 猫糞する (ja) (ねこばばする, nekobaba suru) Korean: please add this translation if you can: Polish: zamiatać pod dywan impf, zamieść pod dywan pf Portuguese: varrer para debaixo do tapete Russian: замести́ под ко́врик pf (zamestí pod kóvrik) Serbo-Croatian: гурнути под тепих Spanish: esconder los trapos sucios, engavetar (es) Swedish: sopa något under mattan (sv) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can:

See also

• draw a veil over
• wave away