clear
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /klɪə/
ipa: /klɪɹ/
ipa: /kliə/
ipa: /kliːɹ/
note: East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /klɛː/
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
homophone: Claire (cheer–chair merger)
homophone: Clare (cheer–chair merger)
Forms: form: clears
form: clearing
form: cleared
form: cleared
form: CLR
Etymology: From Middle English clere, from Anglo-Norman cler, from Old French cler (Modern French clair), from Latin clarus. Displaced native Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English scīr (“clear, bright”)), Middle English skere (“clear, sheer”) (from Old English scǣre and Old Norse skǣr (“sheer, clear, pure”)), Middle English smolt (“clear (of mind), serene”) (from Old English smolt (“peaceful, serene”)). Cognate with Danish klar, Dutch klaar, French clair, German klar, Italian chiaro, Norwegian klar, Portuguese claro, Romanian clar, Spanish claro, and Swedish klar.
Senses: examples: text: Police took two hours to clear the road.
text: If you clear the table, I'll wash up.
text: “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action.
 Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…].
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: Faith, Dick, I muſt confeſs, ’tis true
(But this is only Entre Nous)
That many knotty Points there are,
Which All diſcuſs, but Few can clear.
ref: 1715–8, Matthew Prior, “Alma: or, The Progreſs of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occaſions (1741), canto III, p.297
text: ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
ref: 2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
glosses: To remove obstructions, impediments or other unwanted items from.
examples: text: Please clear all this stuff off the table.
text: The loggers came and cleared the trees.
text: […] Aristotle has brought to explain his Doctrine of Substantial Forms, when he tells us that a Statue lies hid in a Block of Marble; and that the Art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous Matter, and removes the Rubbish.
ref: 1711 November 6, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 215:
glosses: To remove (items or material) so as to leave something unobstructed or open.
examples: text: Then the whole population cleared into the forest, expecting all kinds of calamities to happen, while, on the other hand, the steamer Fresleven commanded left also in a bad panic, in charge of the engineer, I believe.
ref: 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:
glosses: To leave abruptly; to clear off or clear out.
examples: text: When the road cleared we continued our journey.
text: After a heavy rain, the sky cleared nicely for the evening.
text: Shake the test tube well, and the liquid should slowly clear.
glosses: To become free from obstruction or obscurement; to become transparent.
examples: text: We need to clear this issue once and for all.
glosses: To eliminate ambiguity or doubt from (a matter); to clarify or resolve; to clear up.
examples: text: The court cleared the man of murder.
text: […] yet I appeal to the reader, and am sure he will clear me from Partiality.
ref: 1713, John Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Antient and Modern:
text: How! Wouldst thou clear rebellion?
ref: 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, act III, scene v:
glosses: To remove from suspicion, especially of having committed a crime.
examples: text: The door just barely clears the table as it closes.
text: The leaping horse easily cleared the hurdles.
glosses: To pass without interference; to miss.
examples: text: She was the first female high jumper to clear two metres.
qualifier: activities such as jumping or throwing
glosses: To exceed a stated mark.
examples: text: I cleared the first level in 36 seconds.
topics: video-games
glosses: To finish or complete (a stage, challenge, or game).
examples: text: The check might not clear for a couple of days.
glosses: Of a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.
examples: text: He's been clearing seven thousand a week.
text: The profit which she cleared on the cargo […] cannot be estimated at less than a thousand guineas.
ref: 1843, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, chapter V:
topics: business
glosses: To earn a profit of; to net.
examples: text: Air traffic control cleared the plane to land.
text: The marketing department has cleared the press release for publication.
glosses: To approve or authorise for a particular purpose or action; to give clearance to.
examples: text: I've cleared the press release with the marketing department, so go ahead and publish it.
glosses: To obtain approval or authorisation in respect of.
examples: text: The steamer cleared for Liverpool today.
glosses: To obtain a clearance.
glosses: To obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.
examples: text: Beſides, he that cleares at once will relapſe: for finding himſelfe out of ſtraights, he will reuert to his cuſtomes. But hee that cleareth by degrees, induceth an habite of frugality, and gaineth as well vpon his minde, as vpon his Eſtate.
ref: 1613, Francis Bacon, The Eſſaies (second edition), essay 18: “Of Expences”
glosses: To disengage oneself from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.
examples: text: The goalkeeper rushed forward to clear the ball.
text: A low cross came in, and Smith cleared.
text: Bolton then went even closer when Elmander's cross was met by a bullet header from Holden, which forced a wonderful tip over from Cech before Drogba then cleared the resulting corner off the line.
ref: 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To hit, kick, head, punch etc. (a ball, puck) away in order to defend one's goal.
examples: text: to clear an array;  to clear a single bit (binary digit) in a value
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To reset or unset; to return to an empty state or to zero.
examples: text: To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.
ref: 2010, Andy Harris, HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies, page 290:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To style (an element within a document) so that it is not permitted to float at a given position.
examples: text: To prevent any shooting accidents, remember to clear your pistol and stay aware of your surroundings.
topics: engineering
firearms
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
glosses: To unload a firearm, or undergo an unloading procedure, in order to prevent negligent discharge; for safety reasons, to check whether one's firearm is loaded or unloaded.
Synonyms: sense: clear a forest
word: stub
Derived terms: bench-clearing brawl
clearable
clearage
clearance
clear away
clearcut
clearcutter
clearcutting
cleardown
clearing
clearing agent
clearing nut
clearing saw
clearing station
clear off
clear one's lines
clear one's throat
clear out
clear round
clear someone's name
clear the air
clear the decks
clear the market
clear the neighborhood
clear the table
clear up
overclear
preclear
reclear
unclear