▪ I. clean, a.
(kliːn)
Forms: 1 clǽne, (1, 3–4 cláne, 2 clone), 1–6 clene, 2–7 cleane, (4–6 cleyn(e), 4–7 cleen(e, (5 clen, kleane, klene, 5, 7 clayne), 6– clean.
[Common Teut.: OE. clǽne:—preh. *cláni-:—WGer. *klaini: cf. OSax. clêni, cleini, OFris. clêne, cleine, MDu. MLG. cleine, clêne, LG. and Du. kleén, klein, OHG. chleini clear, pure, clean, neat, delicate, fine, tiny, small, puny, MHG. klein(e, mod.G. klein small, little; also Icel. klénn snug, little, puny, Sw. klen thin, slight, weak, Da. klein, weak. The original sense was ‘clear, pure’; OHG. shows how this passed into the mod.G. sense ‘little’; the orig. sense is more nearly retained in Eng., where, however, it has been encroached upon by the Romanic clear and pure.
The final -n, -ni, is suffixal; the stem klai- is by some referred to the vb.-stem klî-, klai-, kli- ‘to stick’, with the suggested connexion of sense that sticky things, such as oil, give a clear surface, or ‘make the face to shine’. Cf. also the ancient practice of anointing, with its associations.
The early variants cláne, clone, are app. due to a mixture of the orig. adj. clǽne with the orig. adv. cláne: cf. soft.]
I. 1. Clear. † a. Free from anything that dims lustre or transparency. Obs.
(In later use passing into 2.)
| c 1040 in Sax. Leechd. II. 296 Þæt eal se lichoma sy clanes hiwes. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1110 Ealle þa niht wæs seo lyft swiðe clene. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xcix. (1495) 588 Glasse is clene and pure and specyally bryghte and clere. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 33 All of Diamond perfect pure and cleene. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. viii. 366 A Diamond..reputed one of the finest and cleanest for its size in France. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4499/4 One other rough Stone..Christaline, White and Clean. |
† b. fig.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. lxii. 9 [lxiii. 11] Kynincᵹ sceal on Drihtne clæne blisse, hluttre habban. |
† c. Clear in sound or tone. Obs.
| a 1000 Elene 750 (Gr.) Þas word cweðað clænum stefnum, þam is Ceraphin nama. |
† d. Clear of all encumbrance or restrictions.
| a 1300 Charter of Eadweard (dated a 1067) in Cod. Dipl. IV. 199 ælfrid hauet yseld Gise biscop his land..sacleas and clæne. |
e. Of a vessel: clear of advance commission, dispatch money, and other charges, which may constitute deductions from the freight.
| 1890 Whitby Gaz. 17 Jan. 2/7 Thomas Turnbull, Cardiff to Cape Verde, 9s. 6d., clean. 1891 Ibid. 18 Sept. 3/2 Stakesby, Cardiff to Gibraltar, 6s. 6d., clean and nett. |
II. Pure, undefiled, unsullied.
2. a. Free from any defiling or deteriorating ingredient; unmixed with foreign matter, pure, unadulterated. Now commonly expressed by pure, except when the contaminating ingredient is ‘dirt’; as in ‘pure’ or ‘clean water’; clean air, unpolluted atmosphere (freq. attrib.). As applied to metals, there may originally have been connexion with the prec. notion of ‘clear’, ‘undimmed’.
| 883 Cod. Dipl. II. 111 Ðæt land ic selle Cynulfe for syxtiᵹum mancesa clænes goldes. a 1000 Edgar's Canons §39 in Thorpe Laws II. 252 (Bosw.) Clæne oflete, and clæne win, and clæne wæter. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 435 Hyr maydenes brouȝte hyre clene water. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 292 Bred..of clene whete. 1382 Wyclif Rev. xxi. 18 The citee it silf was of cleene gold, lijk to cleene glas. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxiv. 276 (Harl. MS.), I am an infant at þe pappis, and live with clene melke. 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 17 A torche of clene vexe [wax]. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. in Promp. Parv. 80 Of clene syluer, argento puro. 1633 Treas. Hid. Secrets cxvii, A little cleane wine. 1635 R. N. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 35 Good money of cleane silver. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship 59 Half-clean hemp is very foul, and full of shivers. 1872 R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 26 A seam of good clean coal. 1883 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Aug. 528/1 The beans [are] then put through a winnower..and it is then called ‘clean coffee’. 1927 Lancet 26 Mar. 685/1 Smethwick in Staffordshire held a ‘Clean Air Week’ from March 14th to 19th, during which period an effort was made to keep the atmosphere free from smoke. 1957 Ann. Reg. 1956 iv. 348 The passage of a Clean Air Act..was welcomed by smoke abatement enthusiasts and by all concerned with public health. 1958 Times 2 June p. xii/4 The problem of securing clean air, that is to say an atmosphere throughout the whole country relatively free from pollution and contamination. |
b. Of arable land: free from weeds, creeping roots, and the like, prejudicial to husbandry. c. With reference to sensations of taste, smell, etc.: sharp, fresh, distinctive.
| 1917 Harrods Gen. Catal. 1289/2 Chablis, very delicate, clean, dry wine, free from acidity. 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby iii. 61 Clean, crisp mornings. 1932 Faulkner Light in August v. 102 He emerged into the gray and yellow of dawn, the clean chill, breathing it deep. 1933 ― Green Bough 27 The clean smell of its strength upon him blown. 1966 J. Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea ii. 77 The strong taste of punch, the cleaner taste of champagne. 1980 M. Broadbent Gt. Vintage Wine Bk. 275, 1961..Chablis, Beugnons..Attractive: pale, clean and dry when first tasted in 1965. |
d. Of a second-hand motor car: in good condition. (Commercial usage.)
| 1968 Oxford Times 5 Jan. 21/3 (Advt.), Clean motor cars bought for cash. 1968 Observer 24 Mar. 6/4 The increase in purchase tax..has put about {pstlg}30 on the price of even a small new car. ‘That means’, says Mr Bluston, of Sand B Motors in Warren Street, the centre of the London used-car trade, ‘that a late, clean, used car is a buying proposition.’ 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 17 June 8-f/1 (Advt.), We pay cash for clean used cars! |
3. a. Free from dirt or filth; unsoiled or unstained: the proper opposite of dirty or foul. Now the ordinary sense.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xxxix. 283 Ðonne bið ðæt hus clæne. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 435 And wesse her fet al clene. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 689 Þei ben cloþed in cloþ þat clennest scheweþ. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. i, Thair came our kitties, washen clene. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 378 Their harnesse was so cleane and bright. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. ii. 41 Let Thisby haue cleane linnen. 1607 ― Cor. ii. iii. 68 Bid them wash their Faces, And keepe their teeth cleane. 1611 Bible Job ix. 30 If I..make my handes neuer so cleane. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xviii. 328 Six clean..shirts. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xxxvi, What sailors call ‘clean shirt days’—Sundays and Thursdays. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Manners Wks. (Bohn) II. 48 A Frenchman may possibly be clean; an Englishman is conscientiously clean. 1887 Mabel Wetheral Two N.-C. Maids xxv. 174 Her pretty buff cotton gown..was clean on that morning. 1888 Times 10 Oct. 5/5 [A bloodhound] trained from a puppy to hunt ‘the clean shoe’, that is to say, follow the trail of a man whose shoes have not been prepared by the application of blood or aniseed. |
b. in various specific senses; Of ships: Having the bottom free from barnacles, etc. Of whaling or fishing vessels: With no fish or oil aboard, empty; also said colloq. of an angler's basket.
| 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 58/3 In their return they gave Chace to a Caper..but the Caper being clean, escaped them. 1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 63 Their ships being cleaner then his, so outsail'd him. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton x. (1840) 181 As we were a clean ship, we gained upon her. 1820 W. Scoresby Arctic Reg. II. 298 No other opportunity of procuring a whale occurred..The ship returned home clean. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack vi, We had a clean hold..for we had but just come to our fishing-ground. |
c. Of paper: not written on, blank. Of printers' proofs: free from corrections or alterations. Of a copy of writing, etc.: free from corrections, fair. Of a document, report or the like: bearing no adverse point or remark; listing no offence; esp. in phr. clean sheet (also fig.).
| a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. (1843) 827/2 A clean piece of paper, sealed with three impressions of an antique head. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Clean Proof, a slip or sheet of printed matter sent to an author from a printer. a 1889 Mod. Make a clean copy of this sheet. The proofs as returned to press were almost clean. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Mar. 6/3 Following one of the heaviest dockets in recent months, that of last Wednesday, yesterday's calendar at the City Police Court showed a clean sheet; and Magistrate Jay dispensed with the formality of taking his seat on the bench. 1932 Discovery May 153/1 The original field maps and ‘clean copies’ of them are preserved at the office. 1963 Times 21 Jan. 6/5 Seventy-two of the 75 Stockholm starters passed through the control point at Frankfurt. Among those with a ‘clean sheet’ was Erik Carlsson. 1965 L. Sands Something to Hide v. 75 Her licence had been clean..she herself had never put through an insurance claim before. |
d. Of deer or their horns: that have shed their velvet.
| 1838 W. Scrope Art Deer-Stalking i. 6 When they have shaken off this skin, which is called the velvet, and which disappears in the months of August and September, they are said to have clean horns. 1897 J. G. Millais British Deer 95 Park stags are clean sometimes as early as 20th July. 1926 T. Hannan Isle of Mull 173 The stags were not ‘clean’ any earlier than usual. |
e. Of a nuclear device or weapon: producing relatively little radioactivity or fall-out.
| 1956 in Amer. Speech (1957) XXXII. 136 A ‘clean bomb’ —a bomb with little or no radioactive side effects. 1957 Observer 1 Sept. 3/2 If there really is a ‘clean’ bomb..then the whole deterrent power of nuclear weapons has been tragically graded down. 1959 Listener 12 Mar. 444/2 Smaller, clean, measurable nuclear effects which will revolutionize bombing and missile strategy. |
f. Containing no incriminating material; not bugged. slang.
| 1926 J. Black You can't Win xii. 155, I..thought of my room and was thankful that it was ‘clean’. 1959 J. Boland Operation Red Carpet i. 8 The high-ceilinged room in which he spoke was supposed to be ‘clean’, but there was no guarantee that even here the Ministry of Internal Security, the M.V.D., might not have..planted a microphone and tape recorder. |
g. Phrases (fig.): clean bill of health: see bill n.3 10; to have clean hands, to keep the hands clean: to be innocent of wrong-doing; to keep a clean tongue: to abstain from offensive or foul talk; to make a clean breast: see breast n. 5 c; to show a clean pair of heels: to escape by superior speed; to make a clean job (of it): to do (something) thoroughly (colloq.); to come clean (orig. U.S.): to confess, to make a clean breast of it (colloq.).
| 1600 Abp. Abbot Exp. Jonah 388 From which I would that our countrymen..would keepe their hands cleane. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth iv, Harry Smith had best show a clean pair of heels for it. 1830 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 325 Let them keep a clean tongue on the subject of republicanism. 1838 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 96, I would have..made a clean breast of all my thinkings and doings. 1854 G. B. Richardson Univ. Code v. 963 Have you a clean bill of health? 1876 Green Short Hist. x. §2. 766 It was true that the hands of the Governor-General were clean. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet i. xii. (1883) 93 Your husband..will show them a clean pair of heels off the Nore. 1884 T. H. Gore in Law Times 8 Nov. 29/1 He did not go into court with clean hands. 1892 ‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi II. 50 That may be Mithras's notion of making a clean job of it, but it ain't mine! 1915 Conan Doyle Valley of Fear ii. iii. 203 And looked with the deepest respect at the man who had the reputation for making what they called a ‘clean job’. 1919 C. H. Darling Jargon Book 8 Come clean, to confess everything. 1925 Wodehouse Sam the Sudden xiii. 95 You'd best come clean, Soapy, and have a showdown. 1928 Daily Express 10 Oct. 6 Spill the beans. Come clean on the whole game. 1958 Listener 2 Oct. 514/1 Why not come clean and call ‘graduated unemployment compensation’ the national dividend? 1959 J. Cary Captive & Free 28, I was wasting my time, because you kept dodging. You never come clean. |
4. a. Void of spiritual or moral stain or pollution (or what is so considered); pure; undefiled, chaste, innocent. Const. † of, from.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 13 Eadiᵹe beoþ þa clænan heortan, forþon þe hie God ᵹeseoð. c 1000 ælfric Deut. xxiii. 22 Þu byst clæne [absque peccato eris]. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 193 Hore lif cleane urom alle queadschipe. Ibid. 195 Moder..and meiden cleane of alle laste. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1468 Goddesse of clene chastitee. ― Wife's T. 88 We wol been holden wise and clene of synne. c 1400 Destr. Troy 399 Conyng in the clene artis. c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 15 An heuenly kynge þe whiche was bore of a clene virgyn. 1547–8 Bk. Com. Pr., Commun. Prayer, Our synfull bodies, maie bee made clene by his body. 1611 Bible Ps. li. 10 Create in mee a cleane heart, O God. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 210 I trust That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. vii. 161 A man of good and clean life. |
† b. Guiltless of a charge or accusation; innocent. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4918 Ha ha, traiturs, now wel is sene Queþer þat yee be fule or clene. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 646 Gif he was clene, thair schaw his Innocence. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. Acts Robt. I, 33 Gif he be made quit, and cleane: all his gudes salbe restored to him. |
c. In phr. the clean thing: the honest, straightforward thing. U.S.
| 1835 D. Crockett Tour 193 (Bartlett), I don't like it. It isn't the clean thing. 1855 Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. 100 Hang me if he can be the clean thing anyhow he can fix it. 1871 Washington Patriot 3 Apr. (De Vere), It would have been the clean thing to say at once that no debate would be allowed. |
d. clean ticket (see quot. 1859). U.S.
| 1848 N.Y. Weekly Tribune 10 June 4/5, I go with my friend, Mr. Van Buren, for a clean ticket. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), Clean Ticket, the entire regularly nominated ticket at an election; a ticket without any erasures. ‘He went the clean ticket on the Whig Nominations.’ 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 269 Only when a man adopts the whole list as made up by his party, is it called a clean or straight ticket. |
e. Of writings, entertainment, etc.: free from obscenity or indelicate treatment of sexual matters; so good, clean fun: enjoyment or entertainment devoid of salacity or obscenity (freq. used ironically).
| 1867 Belgravia IV. 48 Since Sir Walter Scott's days English novels have been ‘sane, clean, and wholesome’. 1908 Westm Gaz. 26 Oct. 1/2 M. René Bazin..has..become known on this side of the Channel as the ‘cleanest’ of contemporary French novelists. 1911 E. J. Muddle's Picture Plays 10 The public..demands good, clean, wholesome pictures, to which it can take every member of its household, from the youngest upwards. 1923 Time 24 Mar. 16/1 Abounds in good, clean fun. 1929 Priestley Good Compan. ii. i. 249 He's one of the best comedians going in Concert Party work—clever, and keeps it clean. 1938 E. Hemingway Fifth Column (1939) i. iii. 25 Brought Anita around for a little spot of good clean fun. 1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 53 As resoundingly and full-bloodedly as you like so long as it's only in good clean working-class fun! |
f. Free from suspicion of criminal or treacherous intent or involvement; not carrying incriminating material (as drugs, weapons, etc.); not a security risk. slang.
| 1926 J. Black You can't Win xxii. 340, I was clean, there wasn't a scrap of evidence against me. 1938 ‘D. Hume’ Good-bye to Life xiii. 154 ‘If you've got anything likely to hurt folks in your pockets, Wade, I'm feeling sorry for you, because I'm going to frisk you now’. Fortunately for Wade he was ‘clean’. 1961 Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia p. xiv, Clean, no drugs on person. 1969 M. Puzo Godfather i. x. 134 They'll frisk me when I meet them so I'll have to be clean then, but figure out a way you can get a weapon to me. 1979 A. Boyle Climate of Treason xi. 407 It appears probable that Philby, too, came under the balefully hostile scrutiny of the new régime in the Kremlin. Thanks to a German, Philby was eventually declared ‘clean’. 1982 A. Price Old ‘Vengeful’ 11 The point is..he's..absolutely clean. No contacts. No hint of anything. |
5. a. Free from ceremonial defilement, according to the Mosaic Law, and similar codes.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 41 Þonne beoð eow ealle þing clæne. 1382 Wyclif Numb. xix. 18 In the which whanne a clene man wetith ysoop, he shal sprenge of it the tente. 1609 Bible (Douay) Numb. xviii. 9 A man that is cleane shal gather the ashes of the cow. 1611 ― Lev. vii. 19 As for the flesh, all that be cleane shall eate thereof. Ibid. xi. 37 If any part of their carkasse fall vpon any sowing seed which is to be sowen, it shalbe cleane. |
b. Of beasts: Not defiling, fit to be used for food. Akin to this is the modern use, opposed to ‘foul’ as applied to fish at and immediately after spawning.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. vii. 2 Nim into þe of eallum clænum nitenum seofen & seofen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 626 Sacrede he ðor-on, for fowles frame Ilc seuende der of clene kin. 1611 Bible Deut. xiv. 11 Of all cleane birds ye shall eate. 1870 Pennell Mod. Pract. Angler 147 Clean..Salmon fit to eat: neither just going to spawn, nor just after spawning. 1885 Black White Heather iii, ‘Well, now, is this one all right?’ ‘A clean fish, sir,’ was the confident answer. |
c. Free from the pollution of leprosy or other contagious disease.
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. viii. 2 Lord, ȝif thou wolt, thou maist make me clene. 1611 Bible 2 Kings v. 10 Goe and wash in Iordane seuen times..and thou shalt be cleane. |
† d. Gelded. Obs.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 1 A cleane weather is such a one as hayth had both his stones taken away. |
e. Free from or cured of addiction to drugs. slang.
| 1953 L. Street I was Drug Addict xiii. 110 ‘What did you get on the other cokies?’ ‘This fellow was lousy with it,’ replied Erb... ‘The other one is clean.’ 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xvi. 129 It was almost a year since I left that private sanatorium in New York clean. 1963 New Society 7 Nov. 9/1 Keeping 208 hypes ‘clean’ or off drugs. 1970 Times 13 Mar. 11 Only one-tenth of heroin addicts are ever completely ‘clean again’. |
6. Clean in habit: usually of beasts; cleanly.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 575 He abhorred her company, as a cleane creature doth a caryon. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 381 Beasts that are called Clean, are such as do refuse all kind of unclean Food. Mod. The squirrel is a clean animal. |
† 7. Of style or language: Free from faults, correct, pure, ‘chaste’, elegant. Obs. or arch.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 77 Gydo..declaret it more clere & on clene wise. 1528 Tyball's Conf. in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. xvii. 38 The new printed Testament in Englishe..is of more cleyner Englishe. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xiv. (1883) I. 142 A more clene and elegant stile. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 260 b, The cleane and pure elegancy of Cicero. 1705 Hearne Collect. 28 Nov. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) I. 105 The Book is written in a clean stile. 1713 Note in Burton's Diary (1828) III. 16 He had free conversation, in clean Latin, with the foreign envoys. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Poet. & Imag. Wks. (Bohn) III. 158 Writing clean verses for magazines. |
† 8. Net. Obs.
| 1381 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 46 He shal haue of þe clene katel of þe Gild xx messes songyn for his soule. |
III. Fair, fine, comely, neat, clever.
(The sense-development is here uncertain: cf. F. propre.)
† 9. (?) Fair, fine, ‘proper’. An epithet of admiration or commendation, the force of which it is in many instances difficult to ascertain.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 163 Blyþe stones..richely rayled in his aray clene. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1124 Al þe clene cumpanye com to þe place. Ibid. 1609 Wiþ þe clennest cumpanye þat euer king ladde. 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 141 So gret, so gud men, and so cleyne. Ibid. xi. 427 The kyng left, with ane clene menȝhe. a 1440 Sir Eglam. 452 He hath slayne syxty on a day, Welle armyd men and clene. 1581 W. Stafford Exam. Compl. i. 19 He was wonte to keepe halfe a score of cleane men in his house. |
10. a. Neatly-made, well-fashioned; not unwieldy; trim, shapely, comely. Cf. clean-limbed, etc.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 598 He hadde a paire Of legges and of feet so clene and faire. c 1430 Syr Gener. 508 The king was of making so clene, That to love him she must nede. 1645 Waller Poet. Wks. (J.), Thy waist is straight and clean As Cupid's shaft. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2379/4 Lost..a Coach-Gelding..clean of all his Limbs. 1836 Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse iii. (1841) 52 The hocks and legs..have that character which the jockies describe as ‘clean’. |
b. Ship-building. Built on fine tapering lines.
| 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4510/7 The Hoy Burthen 9 or 10 Tun, very full built forward, with a clean Tail. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 107 Clean, a term generally used to express the acuteness or sharpness of a ship's body. |
11. Sharp (of wit), clever, smart, skilful, adroit, dexterous; neat and finished in action. (So OHG. chleini ‘sagax, versutus, argutus’.)
(The first two quotations may belong to 9.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1496 The secund of þe suster..Cassandra was cald, clennest of wytte. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 2 He held hym self ryghte clene in armes. 1598 F. Meres in Shaks. Cent. Praise 24 When cheating and craftines is counted the cleanest wit. 1623 Massinger Bondman v. iii, I'll cut as clean a caper from the ladder As ever merry Greek did. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. v. §29 A clean Conceit, and as full of Wit as Devotion. a 1704 T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 93 The legerdeman must be clean. 1857 Holland Bay Path xxvi. 332 Yes, Sir! that was a clean thing. 1884 Lillywhite's Cricket Annual 110 A good bat and sharp clean field. |
IV. Clear of obstructions, or unevenness.
12. Unencumbered by anything standing or lying in the way; clear, bare, void. Of anchorage ground: Free from rocks, and the like; opposed to ‘foul’. Of timber: Free from knots.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 443 The feld so cleyn wes maid Of yngliss men, that nane abad. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 267 Whan ye han maad the coost so clene Of Rokkes that ther nys no stoon ysene. 1626 Bacon Sylva (J.), The timber and wood are in some trees more clean, in some more knotty. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 196 There is Water enough, and a clean Bottom. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §262 To drop an anchor as soon as we got into clean ground. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Clean, free from danger, as clean coast, clean harbour. 1884 West. Morn. News 30 Aug. 1/5 The oak is..clean, and very hearty. |
13. a. Clear of inequalities or unevennesses, clean-cut.
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 202 If you have not at first brought your Work clean; that is..gone deep enough with your Gouge to take off all the Risings of the Stuff the Draw-knife left. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady i. xi. §1 (1734) 99 The Strokes of such a Pulse are seldom clean and free. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 188 A clean wound, in the fore arm. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. iv. (1856) 34 The clean abrupt edge of the fractures. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6) I. xii. 367 No slate ever exhibited so clean a cleavage. |
b. Unfeathered: said of pigeons which have no feathers on the legs or feet.
| 1886 G. Ure Our Fancy Pigeons viii. 201 All the best performing tumblers that I have ever seen had clean legs. 1961 W. H. Allen How to raise Pigeons iii. 42 There are two main types, classified as clean-legged and ruffled (with feathers on legs and feet). |
c. Of aircraft: designed to minimize obstructions to the airflow, streamlined. Cf. cleanness 3.
| 1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 27 A brand new, rakish, up-to-date machine it is..perfectly ‘streamlined’ to minimise drift... ‘Clean looking 'bus... Ought to have a turn of speed with those lines.’ 1939 Flight 14 Dec. p. g/1 It [sc. the speed] is certainly not obtained by aerodynamic cleanness. No one would call the Messerschmitt a clean aircraft. 1961 Engineering 20 Jan. 123/1 The clean-wing (aft-engine) de Havilland Trident..due to fly this year. |
V. 14. With nouns of action, etc.: Where nothing is left behind; entire, complete, total, perfect, sheer. (Influenced by the adv.; with ‘a clean sweep’ cf. to sweep clean.) In early use, esp. in alliterative verse, often used vaguely. (See also sweep n. 1 a.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25529 (Cott.) Giue us clene scrift at hald. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2801 The Kyng..declarit all his clene wille. Ibid. 10441 Schuld haue killit þis kyng with his clen strenkith. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 227 b, Make clene confessyon. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. viii. (1883) I. 46 With wonderfull strength and clene might. 1611 Bible Lev. xxiii. 22 When ye reape the haruest..thou shalt not make cleane riddance of the corners of the field. 1611 Cotgr., Nettoyer au balay, to make cleane work, to sweepe all away. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 318 The clean sweep which had been made of so many ancient rights. |
15. Comb.: see after the adv.
▸ clean room n. a room or enclosure in which dust, microorganisms, and other contaminants are eliminated or reduced to very low levels, esp. for the purpose of manufacturing electronic components and some types of medical equipment.
| 1961 Science 21 July 227 Airborne particle monitor is modified by the addition of an air-dilution system to cover the range from *clean-room atmospheres to the most polluted industrial smogs. 1980 Sci. Amer. Aug. 117/3 The disks and the head assemblies in such a memory are sealed in a small ‘clean room’: a chamber approximately the size of a hatbox, in which the air is continuously recirculated and filtered to exclude any dust particles larger than ·3 micrometer in diameter. 1999 Global Ceramic Rev. Autumn 18/2 Dare referred to their design of medical cleanroom TRMs and calender units.., manufactured without any projections which could act as contamination traps. |
▪ II. clean, adv.
(kliːn)
For forms see adj.
[OE. clǽne, cléne, f. the adj.; but the original form was cláne (:—klán(j)o), whence ME. had occasionally clane, clone.]
I. Of manner: in a ‘clean’ manner.
(In many instances, this may be analysed as an adj. standing as complement of the predicate, and referring to a n. expressed or understood: e.g. clean purged, purged so as to be clean, etc.)
† 1. Clearly, brightly. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 55 A Boll of bras burneschid full clene. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxix, Her countur-felit, and hur kelle were colurt ful clene. |
2. In a manner free from dirt; or so as to leave no dirt, refuse, or obstructions.
| c 1000 ælfric Lev. xxiii. 22 Ne ripe ᵹe to clæne. 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 213 The feld was clengit cleyne. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxvii. 40 Clene confessed and repentaunt. a 1533 Frith Disput. Purg. (1829) 105 One that was clean purged of his wit. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. i. (1668) 5 Stroak his neck and body clean over, leaving no sweat nor filth. a 1631 Donne Selections (1840) 20 A man walks clean if in a foul way he contract but a few spots of dirt. Mod. The room must be clean swept. |
3. Cleverly, neatly, dexterously; ‘without miscarriage’ (J.).
| 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xvii. (1883) I. 181 The most honorable exercise..is to ryde suerly and clene. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 179 Howe to..sing cleane, expressing their wordes with deuotion and passion. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 36 To helpe to write cleane, fast and faire together. a 1755 Henley (J.), Pope came off clean with Homer. 1865 tr. Spohr's Autobiog. i. 42 Tietz played the secondo..without faltering and perfectly clean. |
† 4. (?) Properly, completely. Obs.
| c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxxviii, He is.. clene clad in stele. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lviii. 197 Gerames yssued out clene armed. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 477 Came to the Dolphyns presence, which was cleane armed. |
II. Of degree.
5. Without anything omitted or left; without any exception that may vitiate the statement, without qualification; wholly, entirely, quite, absolutely.
This sense naturally arose from the consideration that when a substance is taken entirely out of any vessel, etc., without leaving a particle behind, the vessel is left clean, and its cleanness is a measure of the completeness of the removal. Hence clean was naturally used with all verbs of taking, driving, or going away, of losing, and thence of finishing up, completing, or performing any action.
a. with verbs of removal, and the like. (The use of adverbs or prepositional phrases qualifying the verb introduces const. c.)
| a 1000 Cod. Dipl. I. 311 Ðæt min cynn clæne [MS. clane] ᵹewite. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 7 Þei chaced out þe Bretons so clene. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s. T. 618 Al his loue is clene fro me ago. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 800 His syȝt was clene ytake hym fro. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 11 Somtyme is the hearing lost clene. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 146 When mery drinkers drinke of cleane. 1611 Bible Josh. iii. 17 Vntill all the people were passed cleane ouer Iordan. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law 28 The heire is cleane discharged of the burthen. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 286 One of our great Shot..carried one of his Legs clean off. 1853 G. Brimley Ess., My Novel 273 The purpose of the book seems clean gone out of the writer's mind. 1883 Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 22, I believe he's gone clean off his head. |
b. with other verbs.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3537 Clene þanne þay turnde hure mod. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xl, And cleuet his schild clene. 1547 Homilies, Falling fr. God ii. (1859) 86 They shall clean overgrow us. 1571 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 121 Vanquished and cleane overthrown. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 50 All cleane dismayd to see so uncouth sight. c 1840 Clough Early Poems vii. 47 Food which..may be clean denied me e'en to-day. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lxiv. 218 Perhaps you didn't know that he was clean ruined. |
c. with prepositions and adverbs, as against, without, beside, away, from, through, out, over, etc.
| c 1500 Hickscorner in Hazl. Dodsley I. 182 Clean fro thy wealth she will thee lift. 1500–25 Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. 22 He take a ronne and lept klene over. 1526 Tindale Acts xxvi. 9 To do..thynges, clene agaynst the name off Jesus. 1562 Cooper Answ. Priv. Masse (1850) 71 In this ye speak clean beside the word of God. 1587 Harrison England ii. xiii. (1877) i. 255 The new towne standeth cleane without the limits of the old. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. i. i. 134 Roming cleane through the bounds of Asia. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 201 Cleane against the intent of the writers. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 282 Every Part of which was cut clean through. 1857 Livingstone Trav. vii, 140 note (Frank Vardon), A ball..went clean through his shoulder-blade. |
d. with such adjectives as contrary, different, other, contradictory, impossible, wrong, etc.
| 1538 Starkey England i. 8 The wych thyng to me semyth clene contrary. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., An other thyng cleane different from the depenesse. 1587 Harrison England ii. i. (1877) i. 35, I am cleane of another mind. a 1593 H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 430 The church of Rome, being clean contradictory, doth marvellously err. a 1635 R. Sibbes in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxvii. 8 With God it is clean otherwise. 1839 C. Brontë Let. in Mrs. Gaskell Life 131 Your proposal has almost driven me ‘clean daft’. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xxix. 299 She was going clean wrong. 1883 Stallybrass tr. Grimm's Teut. Mythol. III. Introd. 50 To make a real portrait of Deity is clean impossible. |
† 6. In this sense it was often strengthened by other words, as all clean, clean and low, quite and clean. Obs. (or dial.)
| a 1175 Cott. Hom. 231 Þat hi alle clone simle belocen were. c 1205 Lay. 23777 He wæs al clane Of olifantes bane. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 50 Knoute..chaced him out of Norweie quyte & clene. c 1340 Cursor M. 14803 (Fairf.) Alle þis cuntree..rises wiþ him quite & clene. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 124 [He] saw the king distroy vp, cleyn and low His land. c 1440 Partonope 5484 Youre old manerys be turned alle clene. 1587 Golding De Mornay (1617) Pref. They break off quite and clean. 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 105 And thereof quit and cleane to ouste the feoffee, donee, or lessee. 1832 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 640 Are ye quite and clean gane wrang? |
▪ III. clean, v.
(kliːn)
[In 15th c. clene, f. the adj.: it takes the place to a certain extent of the earlier vb. cleanse, OE. clǽnsian; and in current use to clean is more literal than to cleanse, having a more direct and obvious relation to the adj. Cf. cleanse 1.]
To make clean.
1. a. trans. To free from dirt, filth, or impurity.
| 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1666/2 The English Frigats are now so well Fitted and Cleaned, that none of the Algerines they meet with, escape them. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. vi. 138 We scrubb'd and clean'd our Men of War. 1714 Gay Trivia i. 24 Clean your shoes. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 395 A method of cleaning linen..stained by preparations of mercury. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. §7. 259 The portrait..was given to a painter to be cleaned. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 656 A napkin..to clean the mirror. |
b. Said, by servants or operatives employed in dirty or dusty work, of making themselves clean and tidy in the afternoon or evening.
| 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. ix, That afternoon toilet which was known throughout Penmoyle as ‘cleaning oneself’. 1877 N.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss. s.v., Come, Mary, get cleaned; its just tea-time. 1889 Newspr. She (the servant) had gone up stairs to clean herself. |
c. Often in specific (contextual) senses: e.g. to clear arable land of weeds, esp. of the roots of creeping plants; to clear a ship's bottom of barnacles, shells, sea-weeds, and other accretions; to remove from fish, or the like, the parts unfit for food; also refl. of foul fish, to regain good condition after spawning.
| c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 609 Sarrio, to clene, cutte, or wede. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. xvi. 443 To hale our Ship ashore, to clean her bottom. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 49 This Day..we also clean'd our Ship's Bottom..in order to her better sailing. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 100 The Maid took the fish, and cleaned them. 1853 A. Soyer Pantroph. 187 Clean and salt a wild boar. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 40 About June chub go upon the shallows to clean themselves. 1886 Law Times 151/2 Land ploughed and cleaned for sowing barley. |
d. to clean the board (colloq.): to clear off all that it contains, and leave it empty; to clear it.
| 1884 Harper's Mag. Jan. 299/2 When a man cleaned the board he had something to be proud of. |
e. slang. = 4 b.
| 1915 Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 24 Clean, to take all one possesses of a given commodity; to deplete one's assets. Example: ‘He headed in wrong with that bunch and got cleaned.’ 1926 J. Black You can't Win iv. 27 The poker players..who brought their victims into the back room to ‘clean’ them. 1950 A. Lomax Mr. Jelly Roll (1952) ii. 54 If they didn't clean this sucker by legitimate cheating, one of the tough guys would take his money anyhow. |
f. To ‘clean’ (an aeroplane) aerodynamically, to make streamlined. Also with up. So cleaning-up vbl. n. Cf. clean a. 13 c.
| 1922 Flight XIV. 702/2 The ‘cleaning-up’ of the latest model has resulted in an astonishing gain in maximum speed. 1931 Ibid. 16 Jan. 61 The Short ‘Singapore’ Mark II has been cleaned up by placing the four Rolls-Royce ‘F’ engines in tandem, and by abolishing the chine struts. Ibid. 16 Oct. 1033/1 This new aircraft has been cleaned cleaner than any Armstrong-Whitworth aircraft we have seen. |
2. a. absol., and intr. (for refl.)
| 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4431/15 The same Day came in..Her Majesty's Ships..to clean. 1748 J. Lind Lett. Navy iii. (1757) 123 Our fleets may winter there, clean and repair. 1880 MacCormac Antisept. Surg. 113 The wound had in the first place to ‘clean’, and this cleaning was necessitated by the death of a superficial layer of tissue. |
b. Naut. To change into an appropriate uniform, to don a uniform prescribed for any set duty. colloq.
| 1915 ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship iii. 48 The Captain had ‘cleaned’ already. 1916 G. Franklin Naval Digression i. ix. 70 We..perform that seemingly impossible feat of ‘cleaning’ into a dirty rig. |
3. trans. to clean down: to clean from top to bottom, or by sweeping down. to clean up: to clean by taking up dirt or dust; to bring (a thing) up to a certain pitch or standard of cleanness: see also sense6 and clean n.
| 1839 in J. S. Bassett Plantation Overseer (1925) 117, I have got my cotton land the half of it cleaned up. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre III. viii. 183 My first aim will be..to clean down Moor-House from chamber to cellar. 1872 Mark Twain Roughing it xxxvi. (Hoppe), The machine was stopped, and we cleaned up. That is to say we..washed the mud patiently away till nothing was left but the long-accumulating mass of quick-silver. 1887 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. i, For thirty years..not even admitting a woman to clean up. |
4. to clean out: a. To clean by emptying; hence transf. to empty, exhaust, leave bare. Also fig.
| 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. ix, The larder was utterly cleaned out. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf-t. (1865) 53 (Hoppe) There is a great danger that a man's first life-story shall clean him out, so to speak, of his best thoughts. 1866 Carlyle Inaug. Addr. 180 You will see how we may clean-out the foul things in that Chancery Court. 1887 Scotsman 19 Mar., The obligation to clean out the canal. |
b. slang. To deprive of cash, to ‘rook’.
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Cleaned out, said of a gambler who has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been stript of all his money. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxxix, He has cleaned me out, but I can go and earn some more. |
c. To defeat or deal effectively with (a person); to eject from a place. U.S.
| 1858 in Kansas Hist. Coll. XIV. 99, I could clean you out quicker than greased lightning would pass a funeral. 1863 Harper's Mag. Sept. 569/2 ‘All right,’ says Rhind; ‘fire, boys!’ and in a very short time that ambush was ‘cleaned out’. 1871 Congress. Globe 5 Jan. 316/1 The enemy did take possession of the house one day. They were ‘cleaned out’ as we say; they were compelled to leave the house. 1892 J. L. Ford Dr. Dodd's School i. 10 He could lick the whole crowd of them with one hand tied behind his back. Do you remember how he cleaned out the townies that Saturday afternoon? 1908 S. E. White Riverman xxii. 197, I don't bet those Saginaw river-pigs are any more two-fisted than the boys on this river. I'd go up and clean 'em out. |
d. To clear (a place) of the persons occupying it. U.S.
| 1858 in Kansas Hist. Coll. (1896) V. 567 These same men attacked Barnesville..and literally cleaned it out, both of inhabitants and property. 1883 G. W. Peck Peck's Bad Boy No. 2. 29 Pa got mad and said he could clean out the whole shebang. 1901 M. E. Ryan Montana vii. 97 They..would proceed to ‘clean out’ any establishment where their own peculiar set was ignored. 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail vi. 48 Nothing pleases him better than..to embark on an earnest effort to ‘clean out’ a rival town. |
5. to clean away, off: to remove dirt, defilement, or the like.
| a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 3 A thousand hands..Clean off each ancient stain or soil. |
6. to clean up (see also sense 3). Various colloq. and slang uses (chiefly U.S.): a. trans. To obtain, acquire as gain or profit.
| 1831 J. M. Peck Guide for Emigrants 147 He gave a friend one measured acre..and cleaned up thirty-five bushels and eight quarts [of wheat]. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings vi. 104 So, this man I was speaking of cleaned up $288; and then he went away. 1906 A. T. Jackson Diary of Forty-Niner (1920) 51, I hope to clean up about ten thousand dollars. 1929 [see 6 e]. 1931 L. A. G. Strong Garden xxx. 278 He had seen them clean up all three places in the Open Quarter; he had seen them, individually, win a score of races. 1960 20th Cent. Dec. 555 A concerted drive to ensure that this 25-year-old veteran cleans up another {pstlg}16 million. |
b. trans. To beat, vanquish; spec. in gambling, to make a large profit from, to take all the money from.
| 1888 P. H. Sheridan Memoirs I. 47 The citizens..intended cleaning up the hostiles. 1932 J. Dos Passos 1919 43 They..shot some pool and Joe was pretty good and cleaned up the local boys. 1932 J. T. Farrell Young Lonigan (1936) vi. 136 He pretended that he had cleaned up all the tough guys on Fifty-eighth Street. 1949 N.Z. Free Lance 24 Aug. 10 You jokers cleaned us up at footie. |
c. trans. To clear (a place, etc.) of harmful or immoral influences, elements, or persons; to rid (an area) of remaining pockets of enemy resistance. So cleaning-up vbl. n.
| 1916 Du Puy Uncle Sam 170 The cleaning up of the customs scandals in the port of New York was a most complicated task. 1925 C. E. Mulford Cottonwood Gulch 188 Our friend Dangerfield [the sheriff] will clean up this cursed country like a new broom. 1929 Times 15 Feb., More than 3,000 persons were arrested..by the Chicago police in a new effort to ‘clean up’ the city. 1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 May 359/1 American troops engaged in ‘cleaning up’ that distressful republic. 1942 P. Jordan Diary 29 Nov. (1943) 64 British parachutists have been dropped..at Depienne, where they are to clean up an airfield. 1943 Ann. Reg. 1942 128 After North Africa had been ‘cleaned up’, Parliament would be asked to approve a proposal that troops of the Union should serve outside Africa. 1967 G. Freeman Undergrowth Literature xi. 163 A political broadsheet published in California in 1966 calling for the banning of pornography had, as one of the arguments in favour of legally ‘cleaning up’ the state, [etc.]. |
d. trans. To strip or empty the contents of.
| 1917 Wodehouse Uneasy Money xv. 169 Then the man comes down for a visit and goes about cleaning up the neighbouring houses. |
e. intr. To make a large profit.
| 1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xii. 119 You thought..you could clean up a little dough playing him?.. Did you clean up? 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? i. 11, I mean profit. That show must be cleaning up. 1947 Steinbeck Wayward Bus 36 It's the fastest-selling novelty I've ever handled. Little Wonder is cleaning up with it. |
Add: 7. trans. Weight-lifting. To lift (a weight attached to a bar-bell) from the floor to shoulder height in a single movement: usu. the first part of an overhead lift. Freq. in phrs. to clean and jerk (or press). Cf. *clean n. 2.
| 1936 Health & Strength 26 Sept. 455/3, I can jerk 180 lb to arms' length from the shoulders but cannot ‘clean’ more than 154 lb. 1956 Muscle Power Mar. 46/3 To equal Eder's press Paul would have to clean and press 482 pounds. 1956 Strength & Health Nov. 17/2 The Russian is here seen cleaning a formidable 391-lb. weight. 1957 Muscle Power Jan. 48/3 In a meet in which most of Russia's famous lifters took part against an Egyptian team, he pressed 248, snatched 270 and cleaned and jerked 319½. 1988 Strength Athlete Oct./Nov. 7/1 After someone had been trying to bench press 260lbs Louis strode over and clean and pressed the weight (on an exercise bar) with ease. 1990 D. Ackerman Nat. Hist. of Senses ii. 102 The human body is miraculous and beautiful, whether it can ‘clean and jerk’ three hundred pounds, swim the English Channel, or survive a year riding the subway. |
▪ IV. clean, n.
[f. the stem of the vb.]
An act of cleaning: chiefly in comb., as clean-up, clean-out, etc.
| a 1889 Mod. colloq. Give it a clean before returning it. |
Add: 2. Weight-lifting. The action of lifting a bar-bell from the floor to shoulder height in a single movement: usu. the first part of an overhead lift, followed by a jerk or press. Freq. in phrs. clean and jerk, clean and press. Cf. *jerk n.1 2 e, press n.1 7 c.
| 1913 Health & Strength 6 Dec. 632/2 L.h. clean and jerk. 1928 Health & Strength Ann. 77 ‘Two Hands Clean and Military Press with Barbell’..and the ‘Two Hands Clean and Jerk with Barbell’. 1947 Brit. Amateur Weight-Lifter Jan. 12/2 He also set up a new American Clean and Jerk record. 1961 Muscle Power Nov. 18 If you had only one exercise to do, what would it be? I asked this question of a number of prominent bodybuilders. About 60{pcnt} of them agreed that they would favor the Two-hands Clean and Press. Ibid., The Clean to chest requires great leg and lower back strength. 1975 Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 1099/1 At the 1924 Olympic Games the lifts were one hand snatch, opposite one hand jerk, two hands clean and press, two hands snatch, and two hands clean and jerk. 1991 Longevity Jan. 60/2 The riskiest moves for your back are the clean-and-jerk, the snatch, the squat and the dead-lift. |