spick-and-span
adjEtymology
From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood”) (1570s), from spick (“nail”, variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new”) (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip”) (cognate to Old English spón, English spoon, due to spoons once being made of wood) + nyr (“new”) (cognate to Old English nīewe, English new). Imitation of Dutch spiksplinternieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”), 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.
Definitions
Clean, spotless.
- I mopped up the kitchen floor so it was spick-and-span.
- Sir, this is a ſpell againſt 'hem, ſpicke and ſpan new, and 'tis made as 'twere in mine owne perſon, and I ſing it in mine owne defence.
- My Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for spick-and-span. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA