Brewer's: Clean

Free from blame or fault.

“Ye are clean, but not all.” - John xiii. 10.

BILL. To show a clean bill of health. (See page 135, col. 1, Bill Of Health.) BREAST. To make a clean breast or Make a clean breast of it. To make a full and unreserved confession. HANDS. To have clean hands. To be quite clear of some stated evil. Hence “clean-handed.”

To keep the hands clean.

Not to be involved in wrong-doing.

HEART. To have a clean heart. A righteous spirit.

“Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.” - Psalm li. 10.

HEELS. To show a clean pair of heels. To make one's escape, to run away. Here “clean” means free from obstruction.

“The Maroons were runaway slaves who had ... shown their tyrants a clean pair of heels” —Sala.

LIFE. To live a clean life. Blameless and undefiled.

TONGUE. A clean tongue. Not abusive, not profane, not foul.

Clean

(To).

Clean away!

Scrub on, go on cleaning, etc. To clean down. To sweep down, to swill down. To clean out. To purify, to make tidy. Also, to win another's money till his pocket is quite empty. To clean up. To wash up, to put in order.

Clean, used adverbially, means entirely, wholly; as, “you have grown clean out of knowledge,” i.e. wholly beyond recognition.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894

Clean and Unclean Animals

Claymore