clear away
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English[edit]
Verb[edit]
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[erbert] G[eorge] 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[1], 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[rthur] 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."
- 1897, Conan Doyle, The Dealings of Captain Sharkey with Stephen Craddock:
- Keep the ports closed, but clear away the port guns, and stand by for a broadside. Another two cable lengths and we have them.
Translations[edit]
tidy up
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leave, disappear