Clean Definition
- To eliminate or discard what is undesirable:
The scandal forced the company to clean house.
- to empty so as to make clean
- to empty
- to make clean, neat, or orderly
- to make oneself clean and neat; get washed, combed, etc.
- to defeat; beat
- to confess; tell the truth
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Clean
- clean house
- clean out
- clean up
- clean up on
- come clean
Origin of Clean
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From Middle English clene, clane, from Old English clǣne (“clean, pure, chaste, innocent, unencumbered, unfettered, hallowed, clear, open, honorable, true, acute, sagacious, intellectual”), from Proto-Germanic *klainiz (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *g(e)lēi- (“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”). Displaced Old English sȳfre (“clean, sober”), hlūtor (“pure, clear, clean, bright”).
From Wiktionary
Middle English clene from Old English clǣne
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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