Category:Clean

Clean, a. [Compar. Cleaner (superl. Cleanest.] Etym: [OE. clene, AS. cl; 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, aclean 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. Le

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.)

Defn: 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 authrity that a ship is free from infection. -- Clean breach. See under Breach, n., 4.

clean 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 Clean, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cleaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Cleaning.] Etym: [See Clean, a., and cf. Cleanse.]

Defn: 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.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Clean - The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice. It existed before the Flood (Genesis 7:2). The regulations regarding such animals are recorded in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14:1-21. The Hebrews were prohibited from using as food certain animal substances, such as (1.) blood; (2.) the fat covering the intestines, termed the caul; (3.) the fat on the intestines, called the mesentery; (4.) the fat of the kidneys; and (5.) the fat tail of certain sheep (Exodus 29:13, Exodus 29:22; Leviticus 3:4; Leviticus 9:19; Leviticus 17:10; Leviticus 19:26). The chief design of these regulations seems to have been to establish a system of regimen which would distinguish the Jews from all other nations. Regarding the design and the abolition of these regulations the reader will find all the details in Leviticus 20:24; Acts 10:9; Acts 11:1; Hebrews 9:9.