/kliːn/, [kʰl̥iːn], /kliːn/
OriginFrom Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure”), from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *glēy- (“gleaming”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to gleam”). Cognate with Scots clean (“absolute, pure, clear, empty”) and clene, clane (“clean”), North Frisian klien (“small”), West Frisian klien (“small”), klean (“clean”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).
- Free of dirt, filth, or impurities (extraneous matter); not dirty, filthy, or soiled.
“Are these dishes clean?
Your room is finally clean!
For a baby, happiness is a full bottle and a clean diaper.”
“Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable ”
“Very fine, well-sorted, clean sand with no shells.”
- Having relatively few impurities.
- Free of contamination, (unwanted) germs, infection, or disease.
“Insert a clean swab into your nose.”
“"Serious as cognitohazard." Lillihammer danced down the corridor towards them, doing little pirouettes and leaping from toe to toe. "Reuben Wirth no longer exists. Gonna have to get Forsythe to do tha”
- Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
“I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.”
- slangOf a victory or performance: without any blemishes such as submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc.
“Our team won, but it wasn't clean.”
- Ascended without falling.
- Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.
“clean land”
“clean timber”
- In an unmarked condition; blank.
“Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.”
- Pure, especially morally or religiously.
“Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
“Ah! let me knot be fool'd, sweet saints. I trust / That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.”
- Not using drugs or alcohol.
“go clean”
“I've been clean this time for eight months.”
“Ten months sober, I must admit
Just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it
Ten months older, I won't give in
Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it”
- Free from (or showing no signs of) corrupt, unlawful, and/or sinister conduct or connections (and (of criminal, driving, etc. records) therefore without restrictions or penalties).
“It was my dream to be a Soviet spy. The vetting process started, and I was “clean”: no Jews in either my background or my wife's, no relatives abroad, already a member of the Soviet Communist Party, h”
“"If the Tramells hadn't passed away, we still wouldn't know. The background check was clean." "How can it be clean, for fuck's sake?" I knocked back the whiskey in one swallow. "Eva's mother used Moni”
“Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!”
- informalNot in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.
“I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.”
- informalDevoid of profanity.
- Free of infiltration by covert listening or recording devices (bugs), enemy spies, etc.
“We are currently clean on OPSEC.”
“"[Are you sure the] room is clean?" "As a whistle. It's swept at irregular intervals every week." "That still leaves time to plant a bug[…]"”
- Empty.
“The cargo hold is clean.”
“Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.”
- Smooth, exact, and performed well.
“I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.”
“a clean leap over a fence”
“a clean left-footed shot into the top corner of the goal”
- That does not damage the environment (as much as some alternative).
“clean energy”
“clean coal”
“clean tourism”
- Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
- Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.
- Well-proportioned; shapely.
- informalCool or neat.
“Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!”
- Utter, complete, total; pure; free from restraint.
“a clean sweep”
“When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.”
“The clean thrill of getting the right answer gave me a sense of efficacy and rootedness. Even so, on tests at school I rarely got good grades, because I had a terrible habit of not showing my work.”
- Removal of dirt.
“This place needs a clean.”
“Give the pan a thorough clean.”
- The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
- in-pluralClear vocals, contrasted with death growls and screams.
“When people complained the songs were too hard, Kyle's clean vocals could bail out the band. Adding cleans would set off a chain reaction though - Kyle's crisp, clear presence could be seen as "betray”
“Vocalist Kaan is impeccable in his performance engaging with the crowd and soulfully executing both searing screams and hauntingly melodic cleans.”
“The band's more recent output has seen a small amount of cleans find their way in, but for the most part, the Pennsylvania boys rely on the kind of devastating vocal delivery that can be heard on monu”
- transitiveTo remove dirt from a place or object.
“Can you clean the windows today?”
- transitiveTo tidy up, make a place neat.
“Clean your room right now!”
- transitiveTo remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
- intransitiveTo make things clean in general.
“She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.”
- transitiveTo remove unnecessary files, etc. from (a directory, etc.).
- intransitiveTo brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
- slangTo purge a raw of any blemishes caused by the scanning process such as brown tinting and poor color contrast.
- Synonym of clean up.
- transitiveTo remove guts and/or scales of a butchered animal.
“The fishmonger cleaned the mackerel.”
- slangTo beat, to thrash; to defeat.
- Fully and completely.
“He was stabbed clean through.”
“You must be clean mad.”
“The wave went clean over the old lighthouse.”
Formscleaner(comparative) · cleanest(superlative) · cleans(plural) · cleans(present, singular, third-person) · cleaning(participle, present) · cleaned(participle, past) · cleaned(past) · Cleans(plural)