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The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section C · Project Gutenberg — chapter 277 of 743 · ~417 words · public domain

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1. A jacket or outer covering of wood, etc., to prevent radiation of heat, as from the boiler, cylinder. etc., of a steam engine.

2. The planking or boarding of a shaft, cofferdam, etc.

Clean (klēn), a. [Compar. Cleaner (&?;); superl. Cleanest.] [OE. clene, AS. cl&aemacr;ne; akin to OHG. chleini pure, neat, graceful, small, G. klein small, and perh. to W. glan clean, pure, bright; all perh. from a primitive, meaning bright, shining. Cf. Glair.] 1. Free from dirt or filth; as, clean clothes.

2. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects; as, clean land; clean timber.

3. Free from awkwardness; not bungling; adroit; dexterous; as, a clean trick; a clean leap over a fence.

4. Free from errors and vulgarisms; as, a clean style.

5. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.

When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field. Lev. xxiii. 22.

6. Free from moral defilement; sinless; pure.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Ps. li. 10

That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven Tennyson.

7. (Script.) Free from ceremonial defilement.

8. Free from that which is corrupting to the morals; pure in tone; healthy. "Lothair is clean." F. Harrison.

9. Well-proportioned; shapely; as, clean limbs.

A clean bill of health, a certificate from the proper authority that a ship is free from infection. -- Clean breach. See under Breach, n., 4. -- To make a clean breast. See under Breast.

Clean, adv. 1. Without limitation or remainder; quite; perfectly; wholly; entirely. "Domestic broils clean overblown." Shak.

"Clean contrary." Milton.

All the people were passed clean over Jordan. Josh. iii. 17.

2. Without miscarriage; not bunglingly; dexterously. [Obs.] "Pope came off clean with Homer." Henley.

Clean (klēn), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cleaned (klēnd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cleaning.] [See Clean, a., and cf. Cleanse.] To render clean; to free from whatever is foul, offensive, or extraneous; to purify; to cleanse.

To clean out, to exhaust; to empty; to get away from (one) all his money. [Colloq.] De Quincey.

Clean"-cut` (klēn"kŭt), a. See Clear-cut.

Clean"er (?), n. One who, or that which, cleans.

Clean"ing, n. 1. The act of making clean.

2. The afterbirth of cows, ewes, etc. Gardner.

Clean"li*ly (?), adv. In a cleanly manner.

Clean"-limbed` (?), a. With well-proportioned, unblemished limbs; as, a clean-limbed young fellow. Dickens.

Clean"li*ness (kl&ebreve;n"l&ibreve;*n&ebreve;s), n. [From Cleanly.] State of being cleanly; neatness of person or dress.

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