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show a clean pair of heels. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
show a clean pair of heels, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Pronunciation
Verb
show a clean pair of heels (third-person singular simple present shows a clean pair of heels, present participle showing a clean pair of heels, simple past showed a clean pair of heels, past participle shown a clean pair of heels)
- (idiomatic) To run away; to make an escape quickly.
1859, Charles Dickens, edited by Richard Maxwell, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Penguin Classics, published 2003, →ISBN, Chapter XXIV, page 249:‘[...]No, gentlemen; he'll always show ’em a clean pair of heels very early in the scuffle, and sneak away.’
1959 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 133:But in the second column the "Britannia" Pacific , though with one coach less, showed a cleaner pair of heels, [...].
1977, Brian Schofield, edited by Gerald Jordan, Naval Warfare In The Twentieth Century 1900—1945, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, ‘Jacky’ Fisher, HMS Indomitable and the Dogger Bank Action: A Personal Memoir, page 66:The two German ships soon showed us and the battle-cruiser Indefatigable in company, a clean pair of heels, though the cruiser HMS Dublin managed to keep them in sight until they disappeared into the Straits of Messina to coal.
2005 April, Bernard Brown, “The Sherlock Holmes of ‘G’ Division”, in Dan Norder, editor, Ripper Notes, number 22, Inklings Press, →ISBN, page 33:During the melee the suspect had run off, showing a clear pair of heels.