Clear
Clear (klēr) , adjective
[Old English cler, cleer, Old French cler, French clair, fromL. clarus, clear, bright, loud, distinct, renowned; perh. akin to Latin clamare to call, English claim. Compare Chanticleer, Clairvoyant, Claret, Clarify.]
1.
Free from opaqueness; transparent; bright; light; luminous; unclouded.
The stream is so transparent, pure, and clear.
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.
2.
Free from ambiguity or indistinctness; lucid; perspicuous; plain; evident; manifest; indubitable.
One truth is clear; whatever is, is right.
3.
Able to perceive clearly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating; as, a clear intellect; a clear head.
Mother of science! now I feel thy power
Within me clear, not only to discern
Things in their causes, but to trace the ways
Of highest agents.
4.
Not clouded with passion; serene; cheerful.
With a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts.
5.
Easily or distinctly heard; audible; canorous.
Hark! the numbers soft and clear
Gently steal upon the ear.
6.
Without mixture; entirely pure; as, clear sand.
7.
Without defect or blemish, such as freckles or knots; as, a clear complexion; clear lumber.
8.
Free from guilt or stain; unblemished.
Statesman, yet friend to truth! in soul sincere,
In action faithful, and in honor clear.
9.
Without diminution; in full; net; as, clear profit.
I often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a-year.
10.
Free from impediment or obstruction; unobstructed; as, a clear view; to keep clear of debt.
My companion... left the way clear for him.
11.
Free from embarrassment; detention, etc.
The cruel corporal whispered in my ear,
Five pounds, if rightly tipped, would set me clear.
Collocations (3)
Clear breach , See under Breach, n., 4.
Clear days (Law.) , days reckoned from one day to another, excluding both the first and last day; as, from Sunday to Sunday there are six clear days.
Clear stuff , boards, planks, etc., free from knots.
Clear (klēr) , noun
(Carpentry) Full extent; distance between extreme limits; especially; the distance between the nearest surfaces of two bodies, or the space between walls; as, a room ten feet square in the clear.
Clear , adverb
1.
In a clear manner; plainly.
Now clear I understand
What oft... thoughts have searched in vain.
2.
Without limitation; wholly; quite; entirely; as, to cut a piece clear off.
Clear , transitive verb
1.
To render bright, transparent, or undimmed; to free from clouds.
He sweeps the skies and clears the cloudy north.
2.
To free from impurities; to clarify; to cleanse.
3.
To free from obscurity or ambiguity; to relive of perplexity; to make perspicuous.
Many knotty points there are
Which all discuss, but few can clear.
4.
To render more quick or acute, as the understanding; to make perspicacious.
Our common prints would clear up their understandings.
5.
To free from impediment or incumbrance, from defilement, or from anything injurious, useless, or offensive; as, to clear land of trees or brushwood, or from stones; to clear the sight or the voice; to clear one's self from debt; -- often used with of, off, away, or out.
Clear your mind of cant.
A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter.
6.
To free from the imputation of guilt; to justify, vindicate, or acquit; -- often used with from before the thing imputed.
I... am sure he will clear me from partiality.
How! wouldst thou clear rebellion?
7.
To leap or pass by, or over, without touching or failure; as, to clear a hedge; to clear a reef.
8.
To gain without deduction; to net.
The profit which she cleared on the cargo.
Collocations (5)
To clear a ship at the customhouse , to exhibit the documents required by law, give bonds, or perform other acts requisite, and procure a permission to sail, and such papers as the law requires.
To clear a ship for action or To clear for action (Nautical) , to remove incumbrances from the decks, and prepare for an engagement.
To clear the land (Nautical) , to gain such a distance from shore as to have sea room, and be out of danger from the land.
To clear hawse (Nautical) , to disentangle the cables when twisted.
To clear up , to explain; to dispel, as doubts, cares or fears.
Clear (klēr) , intransitive verb
1.
To become free from clouds or fog; to become fair; -- of the weather; -- often followed by up, off, or away.
So foul a sky clears not without a storm.
Advise him to stay till the weather clears up.
2.
To become free from turbidity; -- of solutions or suspensions of liquids; as, the salt has not completely dissolved until the suspension clears up; when refrigerated, the juice may become cloudy, but when warmed to room temperature, it clears up again.
3.
To disengage one's self from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free. [Obsolete]
He that clears at once will relapse; for finding himself out of straits, he will revert to his customs; but he that cleareth by degrees induceth a habit of frugality.
3.
(Banking) To make exchanges of checks and bills, and settle balances, as is done in a clearing house.
4.
To obtain a clearance; as, the steamer cleared for Liverpool to-day.
Collocations (1)
To clear out , to go or run away; to depart. [Colloquial]