a., abbrev. of SPICK AND SPAN a.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 40. A wish Spick span from the press on wove foolscap to issue.
1888. Public Opinion (N.Y.), 15 Dec., 197. Their visits to a State’s prison have been under the guidance of officials, before whom all is made spick-span.
1894. A. St. Aubyn, Orchard Damerel, III. ii. 48. It could never have been … clear like spic-span modern glass.
So Spick-span new a.
1880. Tennyson, Northern Cobbler, xix. Look at the cloäths on ’er back, thebbe ammost spick-span-new.
