to ignore something

to hide something and not talk about it.

It's sweep under the rug usually, and it means to pretend to get rid of something by trying to hide it instead of really getting rid of it. The image is of someone sweeping and instead of sweeping the dirt outside or into the trash, they cover it up with a rug.

If you're a very lazy housekeeper, you don't sweep up the dirt and put it into the trash can - you sweep it into a corner and cover it up with your carpet or rug! This means that something has not truly been dealt with, but only covered up.

Under Rug Swept was created on 2002-02-25.