clean-, a. and adv. in comb.
1. a. With pa. pples., as clean-armed, clean-built, clean-made, clean-shaped, clean-shaved, clean-shaven, clean-swept, clean-washed, etc. b. parasynthetic derivatives, as clean-complexioned, clean-conscienced, clean-faced, clean-grained (wood), clean-legged, clean-minded, etc. c. with present pple., as clean-feeding, clean-going, clean-looking, clean-sailing, clean-sweeping, etc.
| 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 35/2 He was..of bodye myghtie, stronge, and cleane made. 1568 U. Fulwell Like Will to Like in Hazl. Dodsley III. 329 A clean-legged gentleman. 1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond (1717) 43 My clean-arm'd Thoughts repell'd an unchast Lover. 1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. (Arb.) 112 His delicate, wholesome, and cleane complexioned wife. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4420/6 Clean-sailing Ships..were the first which came up with part of the Enemy's Squadron. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. xxvi. 236 Master of such a clean-going frigate. 1787 Burns Let. Nicol 1 June, A clean-shankit..tight, weel-far'd winch. 1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) II. 182 This clean looking pretty bird. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 97 Clean-grained deal, perfectly free from knots. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack vi, A tall, clean-built chap. 1846 Commerc. Mag. Oct. 136 The over-wrought..zeal of some ‘clean-sweeping’ apologist. 1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 634 The blanket..was clean-washed. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn 9 Clean shaven was he as a priest. 1876 W. C. Bryant Lifetime in Poet. Wks. (1883) II. 195 Clean-swept fireplace. 1878 Grosart in H. More's Poems Introd. 40/2 A whole-hearted, clean-conscienced man. 1884 W. James Ess. Radical Empiricism (1912) xii. 277 The ‘through-and-through’ philosophy..reminds many of us of that clergyman. It seems too buttoned-up and white-chokered and clean-shaven a thing. 1885 Black White Heather i, The..straight-limbed, clean-made figure of a man. 1886 ‘Vernon Lee’ Baldwin 232 Is the novel..to appeal to a public..less clean-minded than the public of the poet? 1888 [see shaved ppl. a. 1 b]. 1919 V. Woolf Night & Day iii. 36 A clean-swept morning of empty, secluded hours. 1932 W. Cather Obscure Destinies 23 But his neck, always clean shaved except in the business seasons, was not loose or baggy. 1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 33 The big cleanminded giant. |
2. Special comb.:
clean-bowl v., in
Cricket, to bowl out (a batsman) or bowl down (a wicket) with a ball that hits the wicket without having touched the bat or body of the batsman;
clean-bred a., of pure stock, thoroughbred;
clean-cut, cut with smoothness and evenness of surface; hence, sharply outlined or defined;
clean-fingered, with clean or nimble fingers; honest, scrupulous, nice;
clean-handed, having clean hands, free from wrong-doing; hence
clean-handedness;
clean-limbed, shapely of limb, well-proportioned, lithe;
clean-living a., of upright character;
clean-run a., describing a well-fed, bright-looking salmon newly returned to fresh water from the sea; also
fig. of a young person;
clean-skin (
Austral.), an unbranded cow; (
slang) a person with a clean police record (see also
quot. 1941); also
clean-skin a., unbranded;
clean-timbered a., well-built, clean-limbed.
| [1860 Bell's Life 29 July 3/4 Carpenter was bowled ‘clean’ by Slinn.] 1862 Baily's Mag. July 34 Young Nixon..bowled 31 overs..for 36 runs and 4 wickets, all fairly, well, and *clean bowled. 1881 Daily News 9 July 2 Spiro was clean bowled, leg stump by the Eton captain. 1888 Longm. Mag. XI. 455 Like a man who has been clean-bowled—first ball. 1891 W. G. Grace Cricket xi. 325 Allen Hill..clean-bowled Messrs. A. N. Hornby, C. F. Buller, G. F. Grace and myself. 1927 G. A. Terrill Out in Glare i. 7 He would be clean bowled for a ‘duck’. |
| 1882 Illustr. Sport. & Dram. News 22 July 451/3 A sleek-looking individual..by no means *clean-bred to look at. |
| 1843 Lever J. Hinton vii. (1878) 45 The mouth whose *clean-cut lip..betokened birth. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 23 Rocks..cut through so as to expose clean-cut surfaces. 1883 Pall Mall G. 15 Nov. 11/2 Canon Wilberforce..the cleanest-cut and the bravest Englishman on the temperance platform. |
| 1558 Q. Kennedy Compend. Treat. in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 119 Swa religious and *clene-fyngerit that thair wyl na thyng perswade thaim without testimony of Scripture. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 285 A worthy General of an Army..clean-fingered, without Bribery or corruption. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 101 All the figures that any clean-fingered damsel can cut out of it. |
| 1728 Gay Begg. Op. i. iii, A mighty *clean-handed fellow. 1779 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. (1780) 81/1 The noble minister..was said to be clean-handed in the most eminent degree. |
| 1887 Athenæum 3 Dec. 744/3 Practical reform and real *clean-handedness in politics. |
| 1461–83 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 39 Any chylde..of clene byrthe, *clene lymmed. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 3 Horses..very strong and clean limb'd. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6387/2 A well set clean limb'd Man. |
| 1920 R. Macaulay Potterism iii. ii. 126 Straight, *clean-living, decent men and women. 1932 L. Golding Magnolia St. ii. x. 407 You're such a nice clean-living chap. |
| 1881 *Clean-run [see run ppl. a. 4]. 1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iii. iii. 163 The girls..appeared to her to be so clean run and so safe. 1926 W. J. Locke Old Bridge i. i. 13 He was a clean-run, brown-haired, blue-eyed youth. |
| 1881 A. C. Grant Bush Life in Queensl. I. xv. 209 All hands are anxious to try their luck with the *clean-skins. 1931 F. D. Davison Man-Shy (1934) ix. 130 She was not a cleanskin; the Mirramilla brand was on her rump. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 46/3 Lifted them cleanskin micks while Morney was in town. 1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger ix. 83 Delacy began the trapping and branding of cleanskin cattle. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 18 Cleanskin, a person of integrity, esp. in a political sense. 1945 ― Austral. Lang. vii. 141 A man who has had no convictions recorded against him is a cleanskin. 1950 ‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice 263 A poddy's a cleanskin, a calf born since the last muster that hasn't been branded. 1967 C. Drummond Death at Furlong Post x. 126, I just dictated a report that they seem clean-skins. 1969 Daily Mirror (Sydney) 12 Mar. 11/4 Had he been a clean-skin..Mr Byrne might have..not recorded a conviction. |
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 642, I thinke Hector was not so *cleane timber'd. His legge is too big for Hector. |