clean

From 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”), Dutch klein (“small”), Low German kleen (“small”), German klein (“small”), Swedish klen (“weak, feeble, delicate”), Icelandic klénn (“poor, feeble, petty, snug, puny, cheesy, lame”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kliːn/, [kʰl̥iːn]

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: klēn, IPA^(key): /klin/, [kʰl̥ĩn]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Ireland, dated) enPR: klān, IPA^(key): /kleːn/, [kʰl̥eːn]
  • (Local Dublin) IPA^(key): /kliːn/, [kʰl̥iːn]
• Rhymes: -iːn

clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)

1. (physical) Free of dirt or impurities.
   1. 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.

      • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC:

        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 dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

   2. In an unmarked condition.

      Put a clean sheet of paper into the printer.

   3. (aerodynamics) Allowing an uninterrupted flow over surfaces, without protrusions such as racks or landing gear.
   4. (aviation) Having the undercarriage and flaps in the up position.

      Antonym: dirty

   5. Empty.

   Synonyms: vacant, void; see also Thesaurus:empty

   The cargo hold is clean.

   Mister, I want to see a clean dinner plate or there'll be no dessert for you.

   1. (of metal) Having relatively few impurities.

      clean steel

2. (behavioral) Free of immorality or criminality.
   1. Pure, especially morally or religiously.

      Our kids can watch this movie because it is clean.

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 51:10:

        Create in me a clean heart, O God.

      • 1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 63:

        Ah! let me knot be fool'd, sweet saints. I trust / That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven.

      • 1914, Parliamentary Debates, volume 168, New Zealand, page 195:

        I do not think there is any member in this House who will not agree that that is the clean thing to do. Any member sitting on the Government benches will admit in private that that is the proper course for members who break faith.

   2. Not having used drugs or alcohol.

      I've been clean this time for eight months.

      • 2014 October 27, Taylor Swift, Imogen Heap, “Clean (Taylor's Version)”, in 1989 (Taylor's Version)‎^[1], performed by Taylor Swift, published 2023 October 27:

        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

   3. (of criminal, driving, etc. records) Without restrictions or penalties, or someone having such a record.

      Unlike you, I’ve never caused any accidents — my record is still clean!

   4. (informal) Not in possession of weapons or contraband such as drugs.

      I'm clean, officer. You can go ahead and search me if you want.

   5. (informal) Devoid of profanity.
3. Smooth, exact, and performed well.

   I'll need a sharper knife to make clean cuts.

   a clean leap over a fence

4. (obsolete) Total; utter. (still in "clean sweep")
   • 1655, James Howell, “To the Right Honourable the Earl of Clare”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume (please specify the page), London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], →OCLC:

     Moreover, I find there are some Words now in French which are turned to a Countersense […] Cocu is taken for one whose Wife is light, and hath made him a passive Cuckold; whereas clean contrary, Cocu, which is the Cuckow, doth use to lay her Eggs in another Bird's Nest.

5. (informal) Cool or neat.

   Wow, dude, those are some clean shoes ya got there!

6. (health, of a person) Free of infection or disease.
   • 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, in SCP Foundation‎^[2], archived from the original on 23 May 2024:

     "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 that brain scan to make sure I'm clean, but otherwise yeah. Poof."

   1. (health) Devoid of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

      I want to make sure my fiancé is clean before we are married.

7. That does not damage the environment.

   clean energy

   clean coal

8. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects.

   clean land

   clean timber

9. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 23:22:

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

10. Well-proportioned; shapely.

    clean limbs

11. (climbing, of a route) Ascended without falling.
12. (professional wrestling slang) Of a victory or performance: without any submission holds, disqualification, interference, etc.

• (not dirty): Thesaurus:clean

• dirty
• unclean

clean (plural cleans)

1. Removal of dirt.

   This place needs a clean.

2. (weightlifting) The first part of the event clean and jerk in which the weight is brought from the ground to the shoulders.
3. (in the plural, metal music) Clear vocals, contrasted with death growls and screams.
   • 2014, T/James Reagan, Leeds House, Amazon Digital Services LLC, →ISBN, page 314:

     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 "betraying" the raw assault that Mike inflicts on the fans with his screams and growls.

   • 2016, Jay Shields, “Tech Fest 2016”, in Fraser Mutch, editor, Elite Online Mag, number 78, page 155:

     Vocalist Kaan is impeccable in his performance engaging with the crowd and soulfully executing both searing screams and hauntingly melodic cleans.

   • 2023 April 17, Jake Richardson, “10 Best Clean Singers in Metalcore”, in Loudwire‎^[3], archived from the original on 17 August 2024:

     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 monumental career highlights such as "Marianas Trench."

clean (third-person singular simple present cleans, present participle cleaning, simple past and past participle cleaned)

1. (transitive) To remove dirt from a place or object.

   Can you clean the windows today?

2. (transitive) To tidy up, make a place neat.

   Clean your room right now!

3. (transitive, climbing) To remove equipment from a climbing route after it was previously lead climbed.
4. (intransitive) To make things clean in general.

   She just likes to clean. That’s why I married her.

5. (transitive, computing) To remove unnecessary files, etc. from (a directory, etc.).
6. (intransitive, curling) To brush the ice lightly in front of a moving rock to remove any debris and ensure a correct line; less vigorous than a sweep.
7. (manga fandom slang) To purge a raw of any blemishes caused by the scanning process such as brown tinting and poor color contrast.
8. (video games) Synonym of clean up
9. To remove guts and/or scales of a butchered animal.

• See also Thesaurus:make clean

clean (comparative cleaner, superlative cleanest)

1. Fully and completely.

   He was stabbed clean through.

   You must be clean mad.

   • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

     So, since all my pains in his direction were clean thrown away, there was nothing left for me but to scurry back to Marjorie, — so I scurried, and I found the house empty, no one there, and Marjorie gone.

   • 1951 October, William B. Stocks, “A Few Miles from Huddersfield”, in Railway Magazine, page 701:

     A feat sometimes achieved by outstanding local athletes is to throw a cricket ball clean over the top [of the viaduct].

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.

• Calne, Lance, Lenca, ancle, clane, lance

Borrowed from English clean.

clean (neuter clean, plural and definite singular attributive clean)

1. drugfree, not having used recreational drugs

Borrowed from English clean. Doublet of klein.

• IPA^(key): [kliːn]

• Audio:

  (file)

clean (strong nominative masculine singular cleaner, comparative cleaner, superlative am cleansten)

1. (colloquial) clean, drugfree
   • 1984 March 26, “99 Luftballons und das Chaos der Gefühle”, in Der Spiegel‎^[4], number 13:

     Nenas Image ist so clean, daß ein paar Zeitschriften nun nach dunklen Punkten suchen und sie erfinden, weil nichts zu finden ist.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “clean” in Duden online
• “clean” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Old Irish clíabán.

• IPA^(key): /kleːn/

clean m (genitive singular clean, plural cleanyn)

1. cradle (oscillating bed for a baby)

   Ta dooinney ny ghaa leaystey clean nagh vel bentyn da hene.

   There’s a man or two rocking the cradle of another man’s child.

2. cot
3. cage (of birds)
4. pannier

Borrowed from Bulgarian клян (kljan), from Proto-Slavic *klěnь.

clean m (plural cleni)

1. chub (Squalius cephalus)