[f. CLEAR v.]
1. The action of the vb. CLEAR, in various senses: brightening; clarifying; elucidation; exculpation, etc.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 143. Þe fourþe dower and þe laste is cleryng of mannis bodi whan it shyneþ briȝt in hevene as þe sunne or oþer sterres.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. vii. 316. For the more cleering that the ensaumpling … makith no boond.
1599. Bilson (title), The effect of certaine Sermons, Tovching the fvll Redemption of mankind … With a … cleering of certaine objections maid against the said doctrine.
1604. Dee, in Hearne, Collect., 3 Nov., 1705 (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 64. Upon his said Justification, and Clearing.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Clearing, of Beer, the same as Fining.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 137. Not without a certain clearing of his countenance.
b. with advbs.
1791. ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 65. The clearing up of some of the most blind descriptions.
1837. Browning, Strafford, V. ii. The curious glosses, subtle notices, Ingenious clearings-up.
1840. Mill, Diss. & Disc., Armand Carrel (1859), I. 266, note. There sometimes comes one great clearing-off, one day of reckoning called a revolution.
2. The removal of encumbrances or obstructions; freeing from debt.
1580. North, Plutarch, 203. The controversie they had with the nobility about clearing of debts.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, xii. 293. A clearing of star-material from certain regions.
1877. Amelia B. Edwards, Up Nile, xviii. 489. A little clearing of the sand here and there, led to further discoveries.
3. spec. The clearing of land from trees or other obstructions to cultivation.
1860. All Y. Round, No. 75. 585. He plunged into the forest … took possession of the shanty, and began his clearing.
4. A piece of land cleared for cultivation, esp. in the primeval forest.
1823. J. F. Cooper, Pioneer, i. There was what in the language of the country was called a clearing.
1853. Mrs. Moodie (title), Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. iii. 49. The idea of a forest clearing is not necessary to the mark.
1887. Lowell, Democracy, etc. 243. A tiny clearing pared from the edge of the woods.
† 5. Comm. = CLEARANCE 5.
1683. Penn. Archives, I. 77. An Account of John Hill of his Entries and Clearings.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit., I. 141. Here all outward-bound Ships must stop … and suffer what they call a second Clearing.
6. The passing of cheques or bills, etc., through a clearing-house.
1883. Stubb’s Mercantile Gaz., 8 Nov., 982. A proposal … for the more expeditious clearing of London cheques continues to excite public attention.
† 7. Mil. See quot. 1816.
1689. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 497. They shal have subsistence money and clearings constantly paid as usuall. Ibid. (1701), V. 11. The lord Ranelagh is paying 2 months clearings to the forces in England.
1781. Rep. Comm. Public Acc., in Grose, Mil. Antiq. (1812), II. 176. This unissued subsistence of the British forces … continues in his [the paymaster-general’s] hands till the accounts of the several regiments are made up, when it falls into the clearings, and is issued to the agents.
1816. James, Mil. Dict. The balance of the pay of the officers, over and above their subsistence, after the warrant deductions are made, and the respited pay, if there is any, is charged to the Officer, is called Clearings; which are paid by the paymaster to the agent, who pays them to the officers.
8. attrib. and Comb., as clearing-beck, a BECK (sb.4) or vat used in calico-printing; clearing-nut, a tree-fruit used by the Indians to clear muddy water for use; also the tree (Strychnos potatorum); clearing-pan = CLARIFIER 2; clearing-ring (Angling) a jointed ring that is slipped down the reel line to free it and the hook when entangled in an obstacle; clearing-screw, -stone, etc. Clearing-banker: see CLEARING-HOUSE b.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIII. 152/2. Strychnos potatorum, *Clearing-nut, has … berries containing only one seed.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1106/2. The seeds known in that country [India] as Clearing Nuts.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 15. A *clearing ring, which is of use to disengage the hook when entangled.
1875. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, I. V. iii. 346. Recourse must be had to a long forked stick or the clearing-ring.
