clean
pronunciation
How to pronounce clean in British English:
UK [kliːn]
How to pronounce clean in American English:
US [kliːn]
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- Noun:
- a weightlift in which the barbell is lifted to shoulder height and then jerked overhead
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- Verb:
- make clean by removing dirt, filth, or unwanted substances from
- remove unwanted substances from, such as feathers or pits
- clean and tidy up the house
- clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing
- be cleanable
- deprive wholly of money in a gambling game, robbery, etc.
- remove all contents or possession from, or empty completely
- remove while making clean
- remove unwanted substances from
- remove shells or husks from
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- Adjective:
- free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
- free of restrictions or qualifications
- (of sound or color) free from anything that dulls or dims
- free from impurities
- without difficulties or problems
- ritually clean or pure
- not spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination
- (of behavior or especially language) free from objectionable elements; fit for all observers
- free from sepsis or infection
- morally pure
- (of a manuscript) having few alterations or corrections
- of a surface; not written or printed on
- marked by or calling for sportsmanship or fair play
- thorough and without qualification
- (of a record) having no marks of discredit or offense
- not carrying concealed weapons
- free from clumsiness; precisely or deftly executed
- free of drugs
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- Adverb:
- completely; used as intensifiers
- in conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating
Word Origin
- clean
- clean: [OE] Etymologically, clean and German klein ‘small’ are the same word. Both go back to West Germanic *klainoz, which meant ‘clear, pure’, but whereas the English adjective has stayed fairly close to the original meaning, the German one has passed via ‘clean’, ‘neat’, ‘dainty’, and ‘delicate’ to ‘small’. It has been speculated that *klainiz was based on *klai-, which connoted ‘stickiness’ (it was the source of English clay and clammy).The reasoning is that something sticky, perhaps from a coating of oil, would have been perceived as having a clear or shiny surface, and there may also have been a suggestion of the purity conferred by a ceremonial anointing with oil. The derivatives cleanse and cleanly (whence cleanliness) are both Old English formations.=> clammy, clay, cleanse
- clean (adj.)
- Old English clæne "free from dirt or filth; pure, chaste, innocent; open, in the open," of beasts, "ritually safe to eat," from West Germanic *klainoz "clear, pure" (cognates: Old Saxon kleni "dainty, delicate," Old Frisian klene "small," Old High German kleini "delicate, fine, small," German klein "small;" English preserves the original Germanic sense), from PIE root *gel- "bright, gleaming" (cognates: Greek glene "eyeball," Old Irish gel "bright"). "Largely replaced by clear, pure in the higher senses" [Weekley], but as a verb (mid-15c.) it has largely usurped what once belonged to cleanse. Meaning "whole, entire" is from c. 1300 (clean sweep in the figurative sense is from 1821). Sense of "innocent" is from c. 1300; that of "not lewd" is from 1867; that of "not carrying anything forbidden" is from 1938; that of "free of drug addiction" is from 1950s. To come clean "confess" is from 1919, American English.
- clean (v.)
- mid-15c., "make clean," from clean (adj.). Related: Cleaned; cleaning. From clean out "clean by emptying" comes sense of "to leave bare" (1844); cleaned-out "left penniless by losses" is from 1812.
- clean (adv.)
- Old English clæne "dirtlessly," also "clearly, fully, entirely;" see clean (adj.). Compare similar use of German rein "clean."
Example
- 1. Solar furnaces help obtain clean materials without any contaminants .
- 2. Clean or replace furnace filters .
- 3. Pass clean energy tax credits .
- 4. Is atomic energy clean and green ?
- 5. More clean energy to generate .