Clear (klēr), a.
[Compar. Clearer (-&etilde;r);
superl. Clearest.] [OE. cler,
cleer, OF. cler, F. clair, fr.L.
clarus, clear, bright, loud, distinct, renowned; perh.
akin to L. clamare to call, E. claim. Cf.
Chanticleer, Clairvoyant, Claret,
Clarify.] 1. Free from opaqueness;
transparent; bright; light; luminous; unclouded.
The stream is so transparent, pure, and
clear.
Denham.
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.
Canticles vi. 10.
2. Free from ambiguity or indistinctness;
lucid; perspicuous; plain; evident; manifest;
indubitable.
One truth is clear; whatever is, is
right.
Pope.
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.
Milton.
4. Not clouded with passion; serene;
cheerful.
With a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts.
Shak.
5. Easily or distinctly heard; audible;
canorous.
Hark! the numbers soft and clear
Gently steal upon the ear.
Pope.
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.
Pope.
9. Without diminution; in full; net; as,
clear profit.
I often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a-year.
Swift.
10. Free from impediment or obstruction;
unobstructed; as, a clear view; to keep clear of
debt.
My companion . . . left the way clear for
him.
Addison.
11. Free from embarrassment; detention,
etc.
The cruel corporal whispered in my ear,
Five pounds, if rightly tipped, would set me clear.
Gay.
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.
Syn. -- Manifest; pure; unmixed; pellucid; transparent;
luminous; obvious; visible; plain; evident; apparent; distinct;
perspicuous. See Manifest.
Clear (klēr), n.
(Carp.) 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, adv. 1.
In a clear manner; plainly.
Now clear I understand
What oft . . . thoughts have searched in vain.
Milton.
2. Without limitation; wholly; quite;
entirely; as, to cut a piece clear off.
Clear, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Cleared (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Clearing.] 1. To render
bright, transparent, or undimmed; to free from clouds.
He sweeps the skies and clears the cloudy
north.
Dryden.
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.
Prior.
4. To render more quick or acute, as the
understanding; to make perspicacious.
Our common prints would clear up their
understandings.
Addison
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.
Dr. Johnson.
A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the
art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous
matter.
Addison.
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.
Dryden.
How! wouldst thou clear rebellion?
Addison.
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.
Macaulay.
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
(Naut.), to remove incumbrances from the decks, and
prepare for an engagement. -- To clear the
land (Naut.), to gain such a distance from
shore as to have sea room, and be out of danger from the
land. -- To clear hawse (Naut.),
to disentangle the cables when twisted. -- To
clear up, to explain; to dispel, as doubts, cares
or fears.
Clear (klēr), v. i.
1. To become free from clouds or fog; to
become fair; -- often followed by up, off, or
away.
So foul a sky clears not without a
storm.
Shak.
Advise him to stay till the weather clears
up.
Swift.
2. To disengage one's self from
incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.
[Obs.]
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.
Bacon.
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.
To clear out, to go or run away; to
depart. [Colloq.]
