squeaky clean

1. Completely clean. This shower needs to be squeaky clean before Grandma gets here.

2. Completely innocent and upstanding. She's such a sweet girl that I just assumed she was squeaky clean—I had no idea she had a police record! They've been trying to dig up any dirt they can find on the candidate, but he's coming up squeaky clean.

See also: clean, squeaky

squeaky clean

COMMON If someone is squeaky clean, they live a very good life and never seem to do anything bad or illegal. Of all boy bands, they had the most wholesome and squeaky clean image. As a country-dweller myself, I can truthfully say that not all people living in the countryside are as squeaky clean as they like to think. Note: You can also use squeaky-clean before a noun. Claudia's squeaky-clean image makes her the perfect children's television presenter. Neither singer has a squeaky-clean reputation. Note: This expression is often used to suggest that this way of life is unnatural or uninteresting, or that someone is not as good as they seem. Note: Clean surfaces sometimes squeak when you wipe or rub them.

See also: clean, squeaky

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

squeaky clean

beyond reproach; without vice.

The expression originally refers literally to a surface so clean that it squeaks when a finger is rubbed across it.

2001 Sonia El Kahal Business in the Asia Pacific The quality of government is corrupt in Indonesia, squeaky clean in Singapore, and in-between elsewhere.

See also: clean, squeaky

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

squeaky clean

mod. very clean. (Like a clean glass that squeaks when one rubs a finger on it.) I got this floor squeaky clean. Don’t spill anything on it.

See also: clean, squeaky

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References in periodicals archive

Considering there were around two million revellers out on the streets, it was no mean task and took a team of 1,802 workers to make the city squeaky clean again by 8am the next day.

87 tonnes of waste cleared post New Year celebrations in Dubai

All of a sudden I had to be squeaky clean for Syco.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE; X Factor siblings swap squeaky clean for super sexy

Warren Bradley needs to remember that no political party has come out of the expenses row squeaky clean, and that includes the Liberal Democrats - didn't I read in your paper that Lord Rennard of Wavertree (Lib-Dem) had claimed pounds 40,000 for a holiday home in Eastbourne?

Amazed; LETTERS to the EDITOR

And with England's reputation for poor discipline already preceding them, Cueto warned they must be "squeaky clean" to stand any chance of toppling the Irish in Dublin.

England must be 'squeaky clean'

We have got to be squeaky clean, especially away from home.

CUETO: IT'S THE CURSE OF OLD TRAFFORD

Once used it leaves skin super-smooth and hydrated with no sense of dryness as well as squeaky clean and glowing.

can't live without; beauty Gentle Foaming Cleansers by Clarins, pounds 14.68

Lewis Hamilton believes he must remain "squeaky clean" if he is to be crowned Formula One world champion this season.

Motor Racing: Hamilton needs to stay 'squeaky clean' MOTORSPORT

I wonder if he has been reading the newspapers about our so-called squeaky clean Parliament?

Letter: VOICE OF THE NORTH: People in glass houses shouldn't

When Britney was squeaky clean, she may have been togged up in school uniform (a fashion crime in itself) but ever since she went off the rails, the one in her wardrobe has boasted the most hideous array of unflattering, bits of old tat.

Britney's dress sense is a useful warning

Cameron is the squeaky clean player who is not ready to accept an unknown daughter from a college sweetheart.

Lupica, Mike. Miracle on 49th Street

Michael Chiklis of The Shield played a squeaky clean police chief on The Commish, and Hustle's Robert Vaughn began his TV career fighting international criminals as The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Criminal intent: does television's shifting focus from cops to robbers reflect our country's move from peacemaker to lawbreaker?

"I was raised with the belief that when you're in a position of authority, especially when you're a minority, you've got to be squeaky clean," says Fred McKinney, executive director of the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council and an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut.

Franklin Raines steps down from Fannie Mae: was the former CEO right to shoulder the blame for accounting irregularities?

(We're not squeaky clean either, having happily printed the story with Gold Ring as market leader.

bad moon rising

A scrub-a-dub in the shower makes your body squeaky clean, right?

Scummy hideout