1513 More Rich. IIIWks. 35/2He was..of bodye myghtie, stronge, and cleane made.
1568 U. Fulwell Like Will to Like inHazl. Dodsley III. 329A clean-legged gentleman.
1592 Daniel Compl. Rosamond (1717) 43My clean-arm'd Thoughts repell'd an unchast Lover.
1604 Jas. I. Counterbl. (Arb. ) 112His delicate, wholesome, and cleane complexioned wife.
1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4420/6Clean-sailing Ships..were the first which came up with part of the Enemy's Squadron.
1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) I. xxvi. 236Master of such a clean-going frigate.
1787 Burns Let. Nicol 1 June,A clean-shankit..tight, weel-far'd winch.
1804 T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) II. 182This clean looking pretty bird.
1816 J. Smith PanoramaSc. & Art I. 97Clean-grained deal, perfectly free from knots.
1840 Marryat Poor Jack vi,A tall, clean-built chap.
1846 Commerc. Mag. Oct. 136The over-wrought..zeal of some ‘clean-sweeping’ apologist.
1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 634The blanket..was clean-washed.
1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn 9Clean shaven was he as a priest.
1876 W. C. Bryant Lifetime inPoet. Wks. (1883) II. 195Clean-swept fireplace.
1878 Grosart in H. More's PoemsIntrod. 40/2A whole-hearted, clean-conscienced man.
1884 W. James Ess. Radical Empiricism (1912) xii. 277The ‘through-and-through’ philosophy..reminds many of us of that clergyman. It seems too buttoned-up and white-chokered and clean-shaven a thing.
1885 Black White Heather i,The..straight-limbed, clean-made figure of a man.
1886 ‘Vernon Lee’ Baldwin 232Is the novel..to appeal to a public..less clean-minded than the public of the poet?
1888 . [ see shavedppl. a. 1 b]
1919 V. Woolf Night & Day iii. 36A clean-swept morning of empty, secluded hours.
1932 W. Cather Obscure Destinies 23But his neck, always clean shaved except in the business seasons, was not loose or baggy.
1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 33The big cleanminded giant.
[ 1860Bell's Life 29 July 3/4 Carpenter was bowled ‘clean’ by Slinn. ]
1862 Baily's Mag. July 34Young Nixon..bowled 31 overs..for 36 runs and 4 wickets, all fairly, well, and *clean bowled.
1881 Daily News 9 July 2 Spiro was clean bowled, leg stump by the Eton captain.
1888 Longm. Mag. XI. 455Like a man who has been clean-bowled—first ball.
1891 W. G. Grace Cricket xi. 325Allen Hill..clean-bowled Messrs. A. N. Hornby, C. F. Buller, G. F. Grace and myself.
1927 G. A. Terrill Out in Glare i. 7He would be clean bowled for a ‘duck’.
1882 Illustr. Sport. & Dram. News 22 July 451/3A sleek-looking individual..by no means *clean-bred to look at.
1843 Lever J. Hinton vii. (1878) 45The mouth whose *clean-cut lip..betokened birth.
1878 Huxley Physiogr. 23Rocks..cut through so as to expose clean-cut surfaces.
1883 Pall Mall G. 15 Nov. 11/2 Canon Wilberforce..the cleanest-cut and the bravest Englishman on the temperance platform.
1558 Q. Kennedy Compend. Treat. in Wodr.Soc. Misc. (1844) 119Swa religious and *clene-fyngerit that thair wyl na thyng perswade thaim without testimony of Scripture.
1580 North Plutarch (1676) 285A worthy General of an Army..clean-fingered, without Bribery or corruption.
1768–74 Tucker Lt.Nat. I. 101All the figures that any clean-fingered damsel can cut out of it.
1728 Gay Begg. Op. i. iii,A mighty *clean-handed fellow.
1779 Hist. Europe inAnn. Reg. (1780) 81/1The noble minister..was said to be clean-handed in the most eminent degree.
1887 Athenæum 3 Dec. 744/3 Practical reform and real *clean-handedness in politics.
1461–83 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 39Any chylde..of clene byrthe, *clene lymmed.
1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 3Horses..very strong and clean limb'd.
1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6387/2A well set clean limb'd Man.
1920 R. Macaulay Potterism iii. ii. 126Straight, *clean-living, decent men and women.
1932 L. Golding MagnoliaSt. ii. x. 407You're such a nice clean-living chap.
1881 *Clean-run . [ see runppl. a. 4]
1915 F. M. Hueffer Good Soldier iii. iii. 163The girls..appeared to her to be so clean run and so safe.
1926 W. J. Locke Old Bridge i. i. 13He was a clean-run, brown-haired, blue-eyed youth.
1881 A. C. Grant Bush Life in Queensl. I. xv. 209All hands are anxious to try their luck with the *clean-skins.
1931 F. D. Davison Man-Shy (1934) ix. 130She was not a cleanskin; the Mirramilla brand was on her rump.
1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Aug. 46/3 Lifted them cleanskin micks while Morney was in town.
1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger ix. 83Delacy began the trapping and branding of cleanskin cattle.
1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 18Cleanskin, a person of integrity, esp. in a political sense.
1945 ― Austral. Lang. vii. 141A man who has had no convictions recorded against him is a cleanskin.
1950 ‘N. Shute’ Town like Alice 263A poddy's a cleanskin, a calf born since the last muster that hasn't been branded.
1967 C. Drummond Death at Furlong Post x. 126,I just dictated a report that they seem clean-skins.
1969 Daily Mirror (Sydney) 12 Mar. 11/4 Had he been a clean-skin..Mr Byrne might have..not recorded a conviction.
1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 642,I thinke Hector was not so *cleane timber'd. His legge is too big for Hector.
ORIGIN: Repr. clean adjective, adverb .