Replies to Minor Queries.
_Spick and Span New_ (Vol. iii., p. 330.).--The corresponding _German_
word is _Spann-nagel-neu_, which may be translated as "New from the
stretching needle;" and corroborates the meaning given by you. I may
remark the French have no equivalent phrase. It is evidently a familiar
allusion of the clothmakers of England and Germany.