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.
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}.
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.
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.