clear 
be out of danger of getting aground. To clear the way, 
to open the way ; make a free passage. 
The Scottish champion clears the way, 
Which was a glorious thing. 
Seven Chainptoiu of Christendom (Child's Ballads, I. 90). 
II. intrans. 1. To become free from what- 
ever diminishes brightness or transparency, as 
the sky from clouds or fog; become fair: abso- 
lutely or with HJI or off. 
So foul a sky clears not without a storm. 
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 
Advise him to stay till the weather clears up. 
Swift, Advice to Servants, Directions to the Groom. 
His excellency observed my countenance to clear up. 
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iii. 4. 
Flowerets around me blow, 
And clearing skies shine bright and fair. 
11. II. D. llarham, Memoir of K. H. Barham, I. 33. 
Hence 2. To pass away or disappear, as from 
the sky: followed by off or it way: as, the mist 
clears off or away. Sf.'To be disengaged from 
encumbrances, distress, or entanglements ; be- 
come free or disengaged. Bacon. 4. To ex- 
change checks and bills, and settle balances, as 
is done in clearing-houses. See clearing-house. 
5. Naut., to leave a port: often followed by 
103S 
(c) In c(ilii-i>.j>/-itiHn!f, the operation of removing superflu- 
ous dye from the cloth ; by washing, treating with bran ami 
soup, and grass-bleaching. ((/) In filaiw-ittiimtf., the keep- 
ing of molten glass in a thinly fluid condition, to permit 
impurities and all uncombined substances to separate and 
settle to the bottom, leaving the glass clear. This is 
assisted by agitation, first by the escape of the gases dis- 
engaged, and, when this ceases, by stirring with iron ladles 
or poles, and finally by introducing some substance con- 
t:iiiiiiig water, which is pushed to the bottom, and there 
evolves steam, which works upward through the mass, (c) 
In ifalrniiiziny sheet-iron, the operation of removing oxid 
from the surface of the plates under treatment by immers- 
ing them in muriatic acid. (/) In banking, the mutual 
exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the set- 
tlement of the differences. The place where this is effected 
is called a clearing-house (which see). (17) In English 
railway management, the act of distributing among the 
different companies the proceeds < ' the through traffic 
passing over several railways. The necessary calculations 
are made in the railway clearing-house in London. 
2. That which is cleared, or is cleared away ; 
specifically, in the plural, the total of the claims 
to be settled at a clearing-house. 3. A place 
or tract of land cleared of wood for cultivation. 
Pleasantly lay the clearings in the mellow summer morn. 
Whittier, Parson Avery. 
4. The amount of free play or space between 
the cogs of two geared wheels when fitted to- 
out or outward : as, several vessels cleared yes- gether. 
terday; the ship will clear out or outward to- Clearing-battery (kler'ing-bat' t 'er-i), n. See 
[Col- battery. 
(a) To take one's self off; clearing-beck (kler'ing-bek), . See beck&. 
clearing-house (kler'ing-hous), n. A place or 
institution where the settlement of mutual 
claims, especially of banks, is effected by the 
payment of differences called balances, clerks 
from each bank attend the clearing-house with checks and 
drafts, usually called exchanges, on the other banks lie- 
longing to the clearing-house. These exchanges are dis- 
tributed by messengers among the clerks of the banks that 
must pay them. Each bank in turn receives from all the 
other banks the exchanges they have received drawn on 
it and which it must pay. The exchanges which a bank 
takes to the clearing-house are called creditor exchanges; 
the exchanges which it receives from the other banks rep- 
resented there are called debtor exchanges. It the cred- 
itor exchanges of a bank exceed its debtor exchanges, it 
is a " creditor bank," and must be paid the balance ; if the 
reverse is the case, it is a "debtor bank," and must pay 
the balance. The balances are paid by the debtor banks 
to the clearing-house for the creditor banks. The details 
of clearing, especially as regards the mode of paying the 
balances, differ somewhat in different clearing-houses 
originated ' 
morrow. 6. To make room; go away, 
loq., U. S.]-To clear out. 
remove; depart. [Colloq.] 
Colonel Golden and the Dickenses came one night, . . . 
and cleared out the next day. 
Ticknor, in Life and Letters, II. 207. 
S't) In bookbinding, to remove the waste paper and pare 
own the superfluous leather on the inside of a book-cover, 
preparatory to pasting in the end papers, (c) See def. S, 
above. To Clear up. (a) To become clear to the eye or 
to the mind. (6) See del. 1, above, (ct) To cheer up. 
Come, no more sorrow : I have heard your fortune, 
And I myself have tried the like : clear up, man ; 
I will not have you take it thus. 
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, ii. 4. 
clearage (kler'aj), re. [< clear, v.,+ -agt.~\ The 
act of removing anything ; clearance. [Rare.] 
clearance (kler'ans), n. [< clear, v., + -ance.] 
1 . The act of clearing ; riddance ; removal of 
encumbrance or obstruction : as, the clearance 
of land from trees ; the clearance of an estate 
from unprofitable tenantry. 
They [French philosophers] effected a clearance, and 
opened a vista beyond whii ' 
fore men's eyes. 
2. Clear or net profit. 
cate that a vessel has complied with the law 
and is authorized to leave port, it contains the 
clear-sightedness 
A horseman ridinji along the giddy way showed so clearly 
against the sky that il seemed as if a putt' of wind would 
blow horse and man into the ravine beneath. 
H. Curz'in, Monast. in the Levant, p. 170. 
Once more ; speak clearly, if you speak at all : 
Carve every word before you let it fall. 
0. W. Holmes, A Rhymed Lesson. 
(el) Without entanglement, confusion, or embarrassment. 
He that doth not divide, will never enter well into busi- 
ness ; and he that divideth too much will never come out 
of it clearly. Bacon, Dispatch. 
(/t) Plainly ; honestly ; candidly. 
Do not take into consideration any sensual or worldly 
interest, but deal clearly and impartially with yourselves. 
Tillotson. 
tot) Without impediment, restriction, or reserve. 
And for he shuld his charge wele susteyn, 
The kyng hym gaue clerly an Erlys lande, 
The whiche but late was com in to his hand. 
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1063. 
By a certain day they should clearly relinquish unto the 
king all their lands and possessions. 
Sir J. Dames, State of Ireland. 
= Syn. Distinctly, Clearly. See distinctly. 
clearmatint, n. [ME. clerematyn, < clere, clear, 
+ (appar.) matin, morning, perhaps in ref. to 
breakfast (cf. OF. matinel, breakfast) : see clear, 
a., and matin.] A kind of fine white bread. 
Ne no begger etc bred that benes inne were, 
But of coket or clerematyn or elles of clene whete. 
Piers Plowman (B), vi. 306. 
Clear-melting (kler 'mel "ting), n. In glass- 
manu/., the process of keeping the glass in a 
molten condition for a time sufficient to permit 
impurities or uucombined substances to settle. 
See clearing, 1 (d). 
clearness (kler'nes), . [< ME. clerenesse, < 
clere + -nesse: see clear, a., and -ness.] The 
state or quality of being clear, (at) Clarity ; bright- 
ness ; glory. 
My townge is not suffycient 
Thy clerenes to comprehende, 
Yf every membre a tunge myght extcnde. 
Political Poems, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 81. 
There was under his feet as it were a paved work of a 
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his 
clearness. Ex. xxiv. 10. 
(ft) Freedom from anything that diminishes brightness, 
transparency, or purity of color : as, the clearness of water 
or other liquid ; clearness of skin, (c) Distinctness to the 
senses ; the character of being readily and exactly per- 
clcarncss to the view, (rf) Freedom from ob- 
all the impurities soon falling to the bottom 
name of the master, of the vessel, and of the port to which clearing-pan (kler'ing-pan), n. A small wide 
iar's* ^e^l^eTKrw'ni'c^^a^l^L ^ SEft ! & "f ^manufacture for cTearl 
prescribed by law. ing molten glass or treeing it from impurities; 
4. In steam-engines, the distance between the a clarifier. 
piston and the cylinder-cover, when the former clearing-plow (kler'iug-plou), n. Aheavyplow 
is at the end of its stroke ; similarly, free play used for breaking up new lands. 
for the parts of any other machine; clearing, clearing-ring (kler'mg-ring), n. In angling, a 
Clearance angle. See angles. heavy ring of metal run down a fishing-line to 
clear-cole, . See claire-cole. clear it of obstructions. 
clear-cut (kler ' kut), a. Formed with clear, clearing-sale (kler'ing-sal), n. A sale for the 
sharp, or delicately defined outlines, as if by disposal of one's whole stock of goods, furni- 
cutting, as opposed to molding. ture, etc. 
A cold and clear-cue face. Tennyson, Maud, ii. clearing-screw (kler' ing -skro'), . In some 
Quite an American face, I should fancy, it was so clear- firearms, a screw placed at right angles to the 
cut and dark. The Century, XXVII. 211. nipple, as a means of communication with the 
clearedness (klerd'nes), n. The state of being bor ? or cha mber in case of obstruction in the 
cleared. Fuller. [Rare.] ' }' ent -. 
Clearer (kler'er), . 1. One who or that which Clearing-stone (kler'mg-ston), H. A fine stone 
perspicacity. 
In the qualities in which the French writers surpass 
those of all other nations neatness, clearness, precision, 
condensation, he [Mirabeau] surpassed all French writers. 
Macaulay, Mirabeau. 
(g) AcUteness of a sense : as, clearness of eight. 
The critic clearness of an eye 
That saw thro' all the Muses' walk. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cix. 
(At) Plainness or plain dealing ; sincerity ; honesty ; fair- 
ness ; candor. 
When. . . the case required dissimulation, if they then 
used it, ... the former opinion spread abroad, of their 
good faith and clearness of dealing, made them almost in- 
vincible. Bacon, Simulation. 
(0 Freedom from imputation or suspicion of ill. 
For 't [murder] must te done to-night, 
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 
O) In painting, that peculiar quality in a picture which 
is realized by a skilful arrangement and interdependence 
of colors, tinU, and tones, in accordance with the prin- 
ciples of chiaroscuro. Esthetic clearness, that clear- 
ness of comprehension which is brought about by the use 
the general purifier and clearer. Pop. Sci. tto., XIII. 570! 
2. Naut., a tool on which hemp is prepared for 
making lines and twines for sail-makers, etc. 
clear-eyed (kler'id), . Having clear, bright 
eyes ; clear-sighted ; possessing acute and pen- 
etrating vision ; hence, mentally acute or dis- 
cerning. 
She looks through one, . . . like a clear-eye (i awful god- 
clear-headed (kler'hed'ed), a. Having a clear 
head or understanding; sagacious. 
This clear-headed, . . . kind-hearted man. 
Disraeli, Coningsby. 
Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn, 
Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwain 
The knots that tangle human creeds. 
Tennyson, To . 
clearing (kler'ing), n. [Verbal n. of clear, .] 
1. The act of making clear, (a) The act of freeing 
from anything : as, the clearing of land, (b) The act of 
For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a 
+ ( k r 'i } ' ",*' [< M f' f'* <*"*?", 
+ *: ~? ^ ' "'' ^ nd 4 f^ In a clear 
() Without obstruction ; luminously. 
,. M P te " e8 f &** and salvation which were but darkly 
l " 8Cl 8ed Unt them ' have unt U9 
8 " * 
That, by the old constitution, no military authority was 
lodged in the Parliament, Mr. Hallam has clearly shown. 
Macaulay, Hiillam s Const. Hist. 
Clearly, a mouse, which has to run many times its own 
length to traverse the space which a man traverses at a 
stride, cannot have the same conception of this space as 
a nlan ' H- Spencer, Prin. of Psycho!., 90. 
(c) With distinct mental discernment : as, to know a thing 
clearly. 
You do not understand yourself so clearly, 
As it behoves my daughter, and your honour. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. 
(d) Distinctly ; plainly ; with or so as to permit clear per- 
ception or understanding. 
She [the Queen] braied and cride lowde, 
and his companye it herde " ' 
wey. 
ig (kler'se'ing), a. Having a clear 
sight or understanding. Coleridge. 
clear-seer (kler'se'er), . A clairvoyant. North 
British Her. [Rare.] 
Clear-sighted (kler'sFted), a. 1. Having clear 
or acute vision ; hence, having acuteness of 
mental discernment ; discerning; perspica- 
cious; judicious: as, clear-sighted reason; a 
clear-sighted judge. 
Judgment sits clear-sighted and surveys 
The chain of reason with unerring gaze. 
Thomson, Happy Man. 
Not a few, indeed, of the most clear-sighted men of 
science have been well aware of the real source of our 
dynamic conceptions. J. Martinean, Materialism, p. 165. 
2. Specifically, clairvoyant, 
clear-sightedness (klef'sr'ted-nes), n. 1. The 
state or quality of being clear-sighted; clear 
vision; acute discernment of the senses or 
thought. 
When beset on every side with snares and death, he 
[Shaftesbury] seemed to be smitten with a blindness as 
strange as his former clear-sightedness. 
Temple. 

Merlin (E. E. T. s.), iii. 590. 2. Specifically, clairvoyance. 
