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clear away. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
clear away, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
clear away in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
clear away you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Verb
clear away (third-person singular simple present clears away, present participle clearing away, simple past and past participle cleared away)
- (transitive) To tidy up, to remove mess or obstacles from a place to make it neat.
1895 May 7, H G Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 153:Further along the gallery was the huge skeleton barrel of a brontosaurus. My museum hypothesis was confirmed. Going toward the side of the gallery I found what appeared to be sloping shelves, and clearing away the thick dust, I found the old familiar glass cases of our own time. But these must have been air-tight to judge from the fair preservation of some of their contents.
- (intransitive) To leave, disappear.
The showers should clear away tomorrow.
- (transitive, figuratively) To dispose of, to get rid of, to remove.
2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2011-12-19:A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs.
- (nautical, transitive) To prepare some object for use by removing obstacles, untying or unfastening it.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Wheelbarrow”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 68:The schooner was run into the wind, and while the hands were clearing away the stern boat, Queequeg, stripped to the waist, darted from the side with a long living arc of a leap.
1893, A Conan Doyle, “The Last Port”, in The Refugees: A Tale of Two Continents, volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, part II (The New World), page 42:"Hiram Jefferson and John Moreton to the pumps!" cried the captain. "Mr. Tomlinson, clear away the long boat and let us see if we may set her right, though I fear that she is past mending."
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