[f. CLEANLY a. + -NESS.] The quality, state or condition of being cleanly. In the earliest quots. it is used, like the adj., of moral purity.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. v. So is my meaning clean devoyde of syn Grounded and set upon al clenlynesse.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., IV. xvii. 280. White … signifyeth innocencie and clenlines.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 59 (J.). Hauing no adorning but cleanlinesse.
1647. W. Browne, Polex., I. 223. The quicknesse of his hand or cleanlinesse of his touch [on the lute].
1733. Swift, Modest Def. Lady’s Dressing-room. Cleanliness hath … been esteemed the chief corporal perfection in women.
1735. Somerville, Chase, I. 158. Much to Health will Cleanliness avail.
a. 1791. Wesley, Serm., lxxxviii. On Dress (1838), III. 15. ‘Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.’
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., V. At Foot of Alps. If … cleanliness is godliness, I fear A hopeless reprobate, a hardened sinner, Must be that Carmelite now passing near.
