spick-and-span

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by Caudex Rax (talk | contribs) as of 14:43, 10 November 2019.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: spick and span

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Originally from “new as new woodchips”

From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood”) (1570s), from spick (“nail”, variant of spike) + (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English span-new (“very new”) (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip”) (cognate to Old English spón, English spoon, due to old spoons being made of wood) + nyr (“new”) (cognate to Old English nīwe, English new).[1] Imitation of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch spiksplinternieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”)[2], for a freshly built ship. Observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (AU):(file)

Adjective

spick-and-span (comparative more spick-and-span, superlative most spick-and-span)

  1. (idiomatic) Clean, spotless; original sense “like new”.
    I mopped up the kitchen floor so it was spick-and-span.

Quotations

1665
1st c. 2nd c. 3rd c. 4th c. 5th c. 6th c. 7th c. 8th c. 9th c. 10th c. 11th c. 12th c. 13th c. 14th c. 15th c. 16th c. 17th c. 18th c. 19th c. 20th c. 21st c.
  • 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Act 3 Scene 5 Lines 42-44:
    NIGHTINGALE (showing one of his ballads) Sir this is a spell against 'em, spick and span new, and 'tis made, as 'twere, in mine own person, and I sing it in mine own defense.
  • 1643 John Taylor, A preter-pluperfect, spick and span new nocturnall, or Mercuries weekly night-newes, Wherein the publique Faith is published, and the Banquet of Oxford Mice described (title)
  • 1665, Samuel Pepys, diary, 15 November 1665:
    My Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “spick-and-span”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ The term "spickspelder nieuwe deuntjes" was used to refer to "brand-new tunes" in a Dutch songbook published in 1630.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=spick-and-span&oldid=57978399"