a. [ Compar. Clearer superl. Clearest. ] [ OE. cler, cleer, OF. cler, F. clair, fr.L. clarus, clear, bright, loud, distinct, renowned; perh. akin to L. clamare to call, E. claim. Cf. Chanticleer, Clairvoyant, Claret, Clarify. ] 1. Free from opaqueness; transparent; bright; light; luminous; unclouded. [ 1913 Webster ]

The stream is so transparent, pure, and clear. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fair as the moon, clear as the sun. Canticles vi. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Free from ambiguity or indistinctness; lucid; perspicuous; plain; evident; manifest; indubitable. [ 1913 Webster ]

One truth is clear; whatever is, is right. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Able to perceive clearly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating; as, a clear intellect; a clear head. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Not clouded with passion; serene; cheerful. [ 1913 Webster ]

With a countenance as clear
As friendship wears at feasts. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Easily or distinctly heard; audible; canorous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hark! the numbers soft and clear
Gently steal upon the ear. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Without mixture; entirely pure; as, clear sand. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Without defect or blemish, such as freckles or knots; as, a clear complexion; clear lumber. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Free from guilt or stain; unblemished. [ 1913 Webster ]

Statesman, yet friend to truth! in soul sincere,
In action faithful, and in honor clear. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. Without diminution; in full; net; as, clear profit. [ 1913 Webster ]

I often wished that I had clear,
For life, six hundred pounds a-year. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. Free from impediment or obstruction; unobstructed; as, a clear view; to keep clear of debt. [ 1913 Webster ]

My companion . . . left the way clear for him. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Free from embarrassment; detention, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cruel corporal whispered in my ear,
Five pounds, if rightly tipped, would set me clear. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To become free from clouds or fog; to become fair; -- of the weather; -- often followed by up, off, or away. [ 1913 Webster ]

So foul a sky clears not without a storm. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Advise him to stay till the weather clears up. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To become free from turbidity; -- of solutions or suspensions of liquids; as, the salt has not completely dissolved until the suspension clears up; when refrigerated, the juice may become cloudy, but when warmed to room temperature, it clears up again. [ PJC ]

3. To disengage one's self from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Banking) To make exchanges of checks and bills, and settle balances, as is done in a clearing house. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To obtain a clearance; as, the steamer cleared for Liverpool to-day. [ 1913 Webster ]

To clear out, to go or run away; to depart. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cleared p. pr. & vb. n. Clearing. ] 1. To render bright, transparent, or undimmed; to free from clouds. [ 1913 Webster ]

He sweeps the skies and clears the cloudy north. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To free from impurities; to clarify; to cleanse. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To free from obscurity or ambiguity; to relive of perplexity; to make perspicuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many knotty points there are
Which all discuss, but few can clear. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To render more quick or acute, as the understanding; to make perspicacious. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our common prints would clear up their understandings. Addison [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Clear your mind of cant. Dr. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To free from the imputation of guilt; to justify, vindicate, or acquit; -- often used with from before the thing imputed. [ 1913 Webster ]

I . . . am sure he will clear me from partiality. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

How! wouldst thou clear rebellion? Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To leap or pass by, or over, without touching or failure; as, to clear a hedge; to clear a reef. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To gain without deduction; to net. [ 1913 Webster ]

The profit which she cleared on the cargo. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (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. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a clear manner; plainly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now clear I understand
What oft . . . thoughts have searched in vain. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Without limitation; wholly; quite; entirely; as, to cut a piece clear off. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of removing anything; clearance. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of clearing; as, to make a thorough clearance. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A certificate that a ship or vessel has been cleared at the customhouse; permission to sail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every ship was subject to seizure for want of stamped clearances. Durke [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Clear or net profit. Trollope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mach.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Clearcoled p. pr. & vb. n. Clearcoling ] To coat or paint with clearcole. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F. claire colle clear glue; clair clear (f. claire) + colle glue, Gr. &unr_;. ] 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. 1. Having a sharp, distinct outline, like that of a cameo. [ 1913 Webster ]

She has . . . a cold and clear-cut face. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Concisely and distinctly expressed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Distinct and unambiguous; unquestionable; as, a clear-cut advantage. [ 1913 Webster ]