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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)


A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter C > Page 89 of 212.
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Clayey Clay"ey adjective Consisting of clay; abounding with clay; partaking of clay; like clay.

Clayish Clay"ish adjective Partaking of the nature of clay, or containing particles of it.

Claymore Clay"more` noun [ Gael. claidheamhmor a broadsword; Gael. claidheamh sword + mor great, large. Confer Claymore .] A large two-handed sword used formerly by the Scottish Highlanders.

Claytonia Clay·to"ni·a noun [ Named after Dr.John Clayton , an American botanist.] (Botany) An American genus of perennial herbs with delicate blossoms; -- sometimes called spring beauty .

Cleading Clead"ing noun [ Scot., clothing. See Cloth .]

1. A jacket or outer covering of wood, etc., to prevent radiation of heat, as from the boiler, cylinder. etc., of a steam engine.

2. The planking or boarding of a shaft, cofferdam, etc.

Clean Clean (klēn) adjective [ Compar. Cleaner ; superl. Cleanest .] [ Middle English clene , Anglo-Saxon clǣne ; akin to Old High German chleini pure, neat, graceful, small, German klein small, and perhaps to W. glan clean, pure, bright; all perhaps from a primitive, meaning bright , shining . Confer Glair .] 1. Free from dirt or filth; as, clean clothes.

2. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects; as, clean land; clean timber.

3. Free from awkwardness; not bungling; adroit; dexterous; as, a clean trick; a clean leap over a fence.

4. Free from errors and vulgarisms; as, a clean style.

5. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.

When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
Lev. xxiii. 22.

6. Free from moral defilement; sinless; pure.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Ps. li. 10

That I am whole, and clean , and meet for Heaven
Tennyson.

7. (Script.) Free from ceremonial defilement.

8. Free from that which is corrupting to the morals; pure in tone; healthy. "Lothair is clean ." F. Harrison.

9. Well-proportioned; shapely; as, clean limbs .

A clean bill of health , a certificate from the proper authority that a ship is free from infection. -- Clean breach . See under Breach , noun , 4. -- To make a clean breast . See under Breast .

Clean Clean adverb 1. Without limitation or remainder; quite; perfectly; wholly; entirely. "Domestic broils clean overblown." Shak.

Clean Clean (klēn) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cleaned (klēnd); present participle & verbal noun Cleaning .] [ See Clean , adjective , and confer Cleanse .] To render clean; to free from whatever is foul, offensive, or extraneous; to purify; to cleanse.

To clean out , to exhaust; to empty; to get away from (one) all his money. [ Colloq.] De Quincey.

Clean-cut Clean"-cut` (klēn"kŭt) adjective See Clear-cut .

Clean-limbed Clean"-limbed` adjective With well-proportioned, unblemished limbs; as, a clean-limbed young fellow. Dickens.

Clean-timbered Clean"-tim`bered adjective Well- proportioned; symmetrical. [ Poetic] Shak.

Cleaner Clean"er noun One who, or that which, cleans.

Cleaning Clean"ing noun 1. The act of making clean.

2. The afterbirth of cows, ewes, etc. Gardner.

Cleanlily Clean"li·ly adverb In a cleanly manner.

Cleanliness Clean"li·ness (klĕn"lĭ*nĕs) noun [ From Cleanly .] State of being cleanly; neatness of person or dress.

Cleanliness from head to heel.
Swift.

Cleanly Clean"ly adjective [ Compar. Cleanlier ; superl. Cleanliest .] [ From Clean .] 1. Habitually clean; pure; innocent. " Cleanly joys." Glanvill.

Some plain but cleanly country maid.
Dryden.

Displays her cleanly platter on the board.
Goldsmith.

2. Cleansing; fitted to remove moisture; dirt, etc. [ Obsolete] "With cleanly powder dry their hair." Prior.

3. Adroit; skillful; dexterous; artful. [ Obsolete]

Through his fine handling and his cleanly play.
Spenser.

Cleanly Clean"ly adverb 1. In a clean manner; neatly.

He was very cleanly dressed.
Dickens.

2. Innocently; without stain. Shak.

3. Adroitly; dexterously. Middleton.

Cleanness Clean"ness noun [ Anglo-Saxon cl...nnes . See Clean .] 1. The state or quality of being clean.

2. Purity of life or language; freedom from licentious courses. Chaucer.

Cleansable Cleans"a·ble (klĕnz"ȧ*b'l) adjective Capable of being cleansed. Sherwood.

Cleanse Cleanse (klĕnz) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cleansed (klĕnzd); present participle & verbal noun Cleansing .] [ Anglo-Saxon clǣnsian , from clǣne clean. See Clean .] To render clean; to free from fith, pollution, infection, guilt, etc.; to clean.

If we walk in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John i. 7.

Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseased,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the suffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
Shak.

Cleanser Cleans"er (-ẽr) noun [ Anglo-Saxon clǣnsere .] One who, or that which, cleanses; a detergent. Arbuthnot.

Clear Clear (klēr) adjective [ Compar. Clearer (-ẽr); superl. Clearest .] [ Middle English cler , cleer , Old French cler , French clair , from Latin clarus , clear, bright, loud, distinct, renowned; perhaps akin to Latin clamare to call, English claim . Confer 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 , noun , 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 Clear (klēr) noun (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 Clear adverb 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 Clear transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cleared ; present participle & verbal noun 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 (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 Clear (klēr) intransitive verb 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. [ 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.
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.]

Clear-cut Clear"-cut` adjective 1. Having a sharp, distinct outline, like that of a cameo.

She has . . . a cold and clear-cut face.
Tennyson.

2. Concisely and distinctly expressed.

Clear-headed Clear"-head`ed (klēr"hĕd`ĕd) adjective Having a clear understanding; quick of perception; intelligent. "He was laborious and clear- headed ." Macaulay.

-- Clear"-head`ed*ness , noun

Clear-seeing Clear"-see`ing adjective Having a clear physical or mental vision; having a clear understanding.

Clear-shining Clear"-shin`ing adjective Shining brightly. Shak.

Clear-sighted Clear"-sight`ed (-sīt`ĕd) adjective Seeing with clearness; discerning; as, clear-sighted reason.

Clear-sightedness Clear"-sight`ed·ness noun Acute discernment.

Clearage Clear"age noun The act of removing anything; clearance. [ R.]

Clearance Clear"ance (- a ns) noun 1. The act of clearing; as, to make a thorough clearance .

2. A certificate that a ship or vessel has been cleared at the customhouse; permission to sail.

Every ship was subject to seizure for want of stamped clearances .
Durke

3. Clear or net profit. Trollope.

4. (Machinery) The distance by which one object clears another, as the distance between the piston and cylinder head at the end of a stroke in a steam engine, or the least distance between the point of a cogwheel tooth and the bottom of a space between teeth of a wheel with which it engages.

Clearance space (Steam engine) , the space inclosed in one end of the cylinder, between the valve or valves and the piston, at the beginning of a stroke; waste room. It includes the space caused by the piston's clearance and the space in ports, passageways, etc. Its volume is often expressed as a certain proportion of the volume swept by the piston in a single stroke.

Clearcole Clear"cole` noun [ French claire colle clear glue; clair clear (f. claire ) + colle glue, Greek ...] A priming of size mixed with whiting or white lead, used in house painting, etc.; also, a size upon which gold leaf is applied in gilding.

Clearcole Clear"cole` transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Clearcoled ; present participle & verbal noun Clearcoling .] To coat or paint with clearcole.

Clearedness Clear"ed·ness noun The quality of being cleared.

Imputed by his friends to the clearedness , by his foes to the searedness, of his conscience.
T. Fuller.

Clearer Clear"er noun 1. One who, or that which, clears.

Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding.
Addison.

2. (Nautical) A tool of which the hemp for lines and twines, used by sailmakers, is finished.

Clearing Clear"ing noun 1. The act or process of making clear.

The better clearing of this point.
South.

2. A tract of land cleared of wood for cultivation.

A lonely clearing on the shores of Moxie Lake.
J. Burroughs.

3. A method adopted by banks and bankers for making an exchange of checks held by each against the others, and settling differences of accounts.

» In England, a similar method has been adopted by railroads for adjusting their accounts with each other.

4. The gross amount of the balances adjusted in the clearing house.

Clearing house , the establishment where the business of clearing is carried on. See above , 3 .

Clearly Clear"ly adverb In a clear manner.

Clearness Clear"ness noun The quality or state of being clear.

Syn. -- Clearness , Perspicuity . Clearness has reference to our ideas, and springs from a distinct conception of the subject under consideration. Perspicuity has reference to the mode of expressing our ideas and belongs essentially to style. Hence we speak of a writer as having clear ideas, a clear arrangement, and perspicuous phraseology. We do at times speak of a person's having great clearness of style; but in such cases we are usually thinking of the clearness of his ideas as manifested in language. "Whenever men think clearly , and are thoroughly interested, they express themselves with perspicuity and force." Robertson.

Clearstarch Clear"starch` transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Clearstarched ; present participle & verbal noun Clearstraching .] To stiffen with starch, and then make clear by clapping with the hands; as, to clearstarch muslin.

Clearstarcher Clear"starch`er noun One who clearstarches.

Clearstory, Clerestory Clear"sto`ry, Clere"sto`ry noun (Architecture) The upper story of the nave of a church, containing windows, and rising above the aisle roofs.

Clearwing Clear"wing` noun (Zoology) A lepidopterous insect with partially transparent wings, of the family Ægeriadæ, of which the currant and peach-tree borers are examples.

Cleat Cleat (klēt) noun [ Middle English clete wedge; confer Dutch kloot ball, German kloss , klotz , lump. clod, Middle High German klōz lump, ball, wedge, Old High German chlōz ball, round mass.]

1. (Carp.) A strip of wood or iron fastened on transversely to something in order to give strength, prevent warping, hold position, etc.

2. (Nautical) A device made of wood or metal, having two arms, around which turns may be taken with a line or rope so as to hold securely and yet be readily released. It is bolted by the middle to a deck or mast, etc., or it may be lashed to a rope.

Cleat Cleat transitive verb To strengthen with a cleat.

Cleavable Cleav"a·ble adjective Capable of cleaving or being divided.

Cleavage Cleav"age noun 1. The act of cleaving or splitting.

2. (Crystallog.) The quality possessed by many crystallized substances of splitting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting .

3. (Geol.) Division into laminæ, like slate, with the lamination not necessarily parallel to the plane of deposition; -- usually produced by pressure.

Basal cleavage , cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. -- Cell cleavage (Biol.) , multiplication of cells by fission. See Segmentation . -- Cubic cleavage , cleavage parallel to the faces of a cube. -- Diagonal cleavage , cleavage parallel to ta diagonal plane. -- Egg clavage . (Biol.) See Segmentation . -- Lateral cleavage , cleavage parallel to the lateral planes. -- Octahedral, Dodecahedral, or Rhombohedral, cleavage , cleavage parallel to the faces of an octahedron, dodecahedron, or rhombohedron. -- Prismatic cleavage , cleavage parallel to a vertical prism.

Cleave Cleave (klēv) intransitive verb [ imperfect Cleaved (klēvd), Clave (klāv, Obsolete); past participle Cleaved ; present participle & verbal noun Cleaving .] [ Middle English cleovien , clivien , cliven , Anglo-Saxon cleofian , clifian ; akin to Old Saxon klibōn , German kleben , LG. kliven , Dutch kleven , Danish klæbe , Swedish klibba , and also to German kleiben to cleve, paste, Icelandic klīfa to climb. Confer Climb .] 1. To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast; to cling.

My bones cleave to my skin.
Ps. cii. 5.

The diseases of Egypt . . . shall cleave unto thee.
Deut. xxviii. 60.

Sophistry cleaves close to and protects
Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects.
Cowper.

2. To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.
Gen. ii. 24.

Cleave unto the Lord your God.
Josh. xxiii. 8.

3. To fit; to be adapted; to assimilate. [ Poetic.]

New honors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold
But with the aid of use.
Shak.

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