Piece to take to the cleaners (4)
I believe the answer is:
rook
'piece' is the definition.
(rook is a kind of chess piece)
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
(Other definitions for rook that I've seen before include "Gregarious crow" , "Swindle (colloq.); bird" , "Chess piece or crow" , "Defraud -- crow" , "Rank - and - file man" .)