clean

1. adjective, slang Not carrying any concealed item or substance that is illicit or forbidden. A: "Check him for a wire, Mickey." B: "He's clean, boss." Police officers performed an exhaustive search of the vehicle for drugs or weapons, but it was clean. You won't be able to get in unless the security guards pat you down and proclaim you clean.

2. adjective, slang Not intoxicated with or addicted to drugs or alcohol. I had a real drinking problem in college, but I've been clean for nearly four years now. I have to stay clean before my parole meeting next week. Cocaine used to be the only thing that would get me out of bed in the morning—until I got clean, that is.

3. adjective, slang Not using or testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. All athletes will have to prove they're clean before they'll be allowed to compete in the tournament. Hey Coach, your entire team will be disqualified if any member isn't clean, got it? A: "Think that competitor is clean?" B: "Judging by his grotesquely muscular physique, no way."

4. adjective, slang Not involved in or guilty of any crime or wrongdoing. I investigated the company's CEO for any illegal activity, but she's clean, as far as I can tell. I swear, I'm clean—I had nothing to do with that robbery. Hey, come on, I don't have a criminal record, I'm clean!

5. adverb, informal Wholly or completely. Wow, he threw the knife clean through the wall! Sorry, I clean forgot we had a meeting this morning. Don't mess with a swordsman like him—he could chop your head clean off!

clean

1. mod. not using drugs; not involved with drugs. I’ve been clean for more than a month now.

2. mod. sober; not intoxicated with drugs at the moment. (Almost the same as sense 1) Just being clean for a day is an accomplishment.

3. mod. not breaking any law. (Police and underworld.) I’m clean, officer. You can’t charge me with anything.

4. mod. not carrying a weapon. (Police and underworld.) I frisked him. He’s clean.

5. mod. well-dressed. Now there’s a clean dude!

References in periodicals archive

The point of transition from one poem to the other, acting like the hinge between the diptych leaves, (22) gives rise to an apparently asymmetrical construction, since Cleanness (1812 lines) is much longer than Patience (531 lines).

Simul iustus et peccator: The Theological Significance of Shifts of Perspective in the Middle English Cleanness and Patience

In fact, there does not seem to be much argumentative force in this passage at all, and in this respect, it is typical of Cleanness as a whole.

The god of the Middle English Cleanness and his erotic exhortations of purity

Through its emphasis on the supersession of Christianity over Judaism, Cleanness participates in and contributes to anti-Judaic discourse.

Communal purity and Jewish "filpe" in cleanness

He said CDA cleanness drive would be launched in every market of the city.

CDA launches anti-littering campaign

Key factors in this regard are the material or combination of materials, the soiling, the geometry of the component, the degree of cleanness required in terms of both film and particulate soiling, and the production throughput.

Trends in parts cleaning

"Tiger caught our eye in the ring due to his length, top line and hind quarter muscling, bone and cleanness through the neck," he said.

Charolais prices soar

Currently, automobiles clearing emission control standards are given stickers bearing one to three stars in accordance with their cleanness and are subject to corresponding tax breaks.

Japan to issue new clean-air certificates to cars

She explains that 'the phrase fayre formez' from the opening of Cleanness has been 'adopted as the central term for this poet's poetics' (p.

The Fayre Formez of the Pearl Poet

Cleanness not only extolls heterosexual love-making not aimed at reproduction, it characterizes its celebration of loveplay as emanating from the Creator.

Courtly Desire and Medieval Homophobia: The Legitimation of Sexual Pleasure in Cleanness and Its Contexts

An "island of liberty and harmony in a sea of dictatorship and discord and a citadel of peace through stormy centuries," to quote a 1938 New York Times analysis; "it is a land of hard work and frugal habits, of justice and cleanness and tolerance, of the very essence of live-and-let-live" - and, not incidentally, the bulwark of free market capitalism in Europe.

Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II

'And as thunder rolls among dark torres, that sound I believe was in no way quieter.' It occurs too at Cleanness 951, of clouds rising when fire and brimstone rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Torres 'towering clouds' in Pearl and Cleanness

"The removal of inclusions from molten aluminum by floatation is a commercially accepted technique for improving metal cleanness," said Luiz Martins, RPT Technologies, Inc.

Understanding inclusions in aluminum castings

He checked ingredient rates, quality and quantity in different stalls and also checked the cleanness and Security situation, Assistant Commissioner Chaudhry Muhammad Arshid also present on the occasion.

DC pays surprise visits to Ramazan bazar