Definition of "clear"

Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.

1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

" […] On the 18th of October, 1841, a very intense magnetic disturbance was recorded, and amongst other curious facts mentioned is that of the detention of the 10:05pm express train at Exeter for 16 minutes, as from the magnetic disturbance affecting the needles so powerfully, it was impossible to ascertain if the line was clear at Starcross. The superintendent at Exeter reported the next morning that someone was playing tricks with the instruments, and would not let them work."

2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30

Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52

NR Chairman Sir Peter Hendy had made it clear that he didn't want anything that smacked of the bus shelters seen at many small, usually unstaffed stations.

2021 June 30, Anthony Lambert, “A railway station fit for the 21st century”, in RAIL, number 934, page 42

Statesman, yet friend to truth! in soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear

1754, Alexander Pope, “Verses occasioned by Mr. Addison's treatise of medals”, in Joseph Addison, Dialogues Upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals, page 5

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair. She said that you gave it to her that night that you planned to go clear. Did you ever go clear?

1971, Leonard Cohen, Famous Blue Raincoat

Mother of Science, Now I feel thy Power Within me cleere, not onely to diſcerne Things in thir Cauſes, but to trace the wayes Of higheſt Agents

1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

with a countenance as clear / As friendship wears at feasts

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]

Hark! the numbers, soft and clear Gently steal upon the ear

c. 1708, Alexander Pope, Ode On St. Cecilia's Day

high school girls with clear-skinned smiles

1975, Janis Ian (lyrics and music), “At Seventeen”

I often wished that I had clear For life, six hundred pounds a year

1728, Jonathan Swift, Horace, Lib. 2, Sat. 6

The signals were clear to allow the train through Soham, as it steadily approached.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42

Much soul-searching is going on at the west London club who, just seven weeks ago, were five points clear at the top of the table and playing with the verve with which they won the title last season.

2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎

Now clear I understand What oft my steadiest thoughts have searched in vain

1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

I want you to know how he spoke: he spoke loud, and he spoke clear.

1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses‎

Can't they see for themselves? Course not. Looks like dust to them, so they can't see it clear at all

1992, Orson Scott Card, Cruel Miracles‎

I would get very short with people and speak clear of my feelings without consideration of their feelings.

2005, Sammatha Crosby Scott, There's a War Inside of Me‎, page 111

Then I heard clear your mother's voice, crying out in distress!

2009, Stephen James Shore, Annalea A Princess in Exile‎, page 160

Now when God called him, Moses told God immediately that he could not speak clear enough to be this leader.

2010, Jack Mayatt, A Better Man: An Inspirational Book‎, page 20

“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, […].

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company

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.

1715–8, Matthew Prior, “Alma: or, The Progreſs of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occaſions (1741), canto III, p.297

‘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. […]’

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎

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.

2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29

[…] 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.

1711 November 6, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 215

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.

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, […], part I, page 199

[…] yet I appeal to the reader, and am sure he will clear me from Partiality.

1713, John Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Antient and Modern

How! Wouldst thou clear rebellion?

1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, a Tragedy, act III, scene v

The profit which she cleared on the cargo […] cannot be estimated at less than a thousand guineas.

1843, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II‎, volume I, chapter V

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.

1613, Francis Bacon, The Eſſaies (second edition), essay 18: “Of Expences”

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.

2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1-0 Bolton”, in BBC‎

To get the footer acting right, you need to float it and clear it on both margins.

2010, Andy Harris, HTML, XHTML and CSS All-In-One For Dummies, page 290

Today, clear status can be conferred only by high ranking ministers of the church, and clears are not presented for examination by outsiders.

1985, Rodney Stark, William Sims Bainbridge, The Future of Religion, page 269