Found 1 items, similar to To make a clean breast.
English → English (gcide) Definition: To make a clean breast Breast \Breast\ (br[e^]st), n. [OE. brest, breost, As. bre['o]st; akin to Icel. brj[=o]st, Sw. br["o]st, Dan. bryst, Goth. brusts, OS. briost, D. borst, G. brust.] 1. The fore part of the body, between the neck and the belly; the chest; as, the breast of a man or of a horse. [1913 Webster] 2. Either one of the protuberant glands, situated on the front of the chest or thorax in the female of man and of some other mammalia, in which milk is secreted for the nourishment of the young; a mamma; a teat. [1913 Webster] My brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother. --Cant. viii. 1. [1913 Webster] 3. Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill. [1913 Webster] Mountains on whose barren breast The laboring clouds do often rest. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mining) (a) The face of a coal working. (b) The front of a furnace. [1913 Webster] 5. The seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart. [1913 Webster] He has a loyal breast. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. The power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Breast drill, a portable drilling machine, provided with a breastplate, for forcing the drill against the work. Breast pang. See Angina pectoris, under Angina. To make a clean breast, to disclose the secrets which weigh upon one; to make full confession. [1913 Webster] Clean \Clean\ (kl[=e]n), a. [Compar. Cleaner (kl[=e]n"[~e]r); superl. Cleanest.] [OE. clene, AS. cl[=ae]ne; akin to OHG. chleini pure, neat, graceful, small, G. klein small, and perh. to W. glan clean, pure, bright; all perh. from a primitive, meaning bright, shining. Cf. Glair.] 1. Free from dirt or filth; as, clean clothes. [1913 Webster] 2. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects; as, clean land; clean timber. [1913 Webster] 3. Free from awkwardness; not bungling; adroit; dexterous; as, a clean trick; a clean leap over a fence. [1913 Webster] 4. Free from errors and vulgarisms; as, a clean style. [1913 Webster] 5. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire. [1913 Webster] When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field. --Lev. xxiii. 22. [1913 Webster] 6. Free from moral defilement; sinless; pure. [1913 Webster] Create in me a clean heart, O God. --Ps. li. 10 [1913 Webster] That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 7. (Script.) Free from ceremonial defilement. [1913 Webster] 8. Free from that which is corrupting to the morals; pure in tone; healthy. “Lothair is clean.” --F. Harrison. [1913 Webster] 9. Well-proportioned; shapely; as, clean limbs. [1913 Webster] A clean bill of health, a certificate from the proper authority that a ship is free from infection. Clean breach. See under Breach, n., 4. To make a clean breast. See under Breast. [1913 Webster]