1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. The
cleanest angler on the pad, In daylight or the darky.
Clean-Out, verbal phr. (colloquial)—To exhaust; strip; ‘rack’; or ruin.
Fr., se faire lessiver.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Cleaned out: said of a gambler who
has lost his last stake at play; also, of a flat who has been
stript of all his money.
1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 38. All
Lombard-street to ninepence on it, Bobby’s the boy would clean them
out!
1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. xxix., p. 184. He never took
a dice-box in his hand, or held a card, but he was plucked,
pigeoned, and cleaned out completely.
c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, ‘When I was Prince of Paradise.’ I
introduced ‘loo’—in an hour or two, I’d cleaned all their pockets
right out.
Clean Potato, phr. (general).—The right thing. Of an action indiscreet
or dishonest, it is said that ‘It’s not the clean potato.’
Clean Straw, subs. (Winchester College).—Clean sheets. [Before 1540 the
beds were bundles of straw on a stone floor. At that date Dean
Fleshmonger put in oaken floors, and provided proper beds, such as
existed in 1871 in Third, and later in the case of the Præfect of
Hall’s unused beds in Sixth. The term has never been used, as stated by
Barrère, in reference to mattresses of any kind, straw or other.]
Clean Wheat. It’s the clean wheat, phr. (general). The best of its
kind. For synonyms, see a1 and Fizzing.
Clear, adj. and adv. (old).—Thick with liquor. [Apparently on the
principle lucus a non lucendo.]
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., iv. Yes, really I was clear;
for I do not remember what I did.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Clear: very Drunk.
1699. Vanbrugh, Relapse, IV., iii. I suppose you are clear—you’d
never play such a trick as this else.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. The cull is clear let’s bite him.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Verb.—See Clear Out.
Clear as Mud, adv. phr. (common) = Not particularly lucid.
Clear Crystal, subs. (popular).—White spirits, as gin and whisky, but
extended to brandy and rum.
Clear Grit, subs.—1. (Canadian).—A member of the colonial Liberal
party.
1884. Fortnightly Review, May, 592. There arose up [in Canada] a
political party of a Radical persuasion, who were called Clear
Grits, and the Clear Grits declared for the secularisation of the
Clergy Reserves.
2. (American).—The right sort; having no lack of spirit; unalloyed;
decided.
1835–40. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xxxii. I
used to think champagne no better nor mean cider ... but if you get
the clear grit there is no mistaking it.
1861. New York Tribune, 10 Oct. Nor do we think the matter much
mended by a clear grit Republican convention, putting one or two
Democrats at the foot of their tickets.
Clear out (or Clear off), verbal phr. (colloquial).—1. To depart.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, II., 151. Like many a hero before
him, he cleared out.
1861. Harper’s Monthly, August. You’ll have to clear out, and that
pretty quick or I’ll be after you with a sharp stick.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 1847. I would have the Canal under the control
of an International Commission ... and then I would clear out of
the country.
1888. J. Rickaby, Moral Philos., 205. To warn the visitor to clear
off.