clearing

Etymology

It is formed from English clear + -ing,^[2][3][4][5] first as inherited from Middle English clering, the gerund of cleren (“to clear”).^[6][7] The verb clear comes from the adjective,^[3] which is from Anglo-Norman cler, from Latin clārus (“clear, bright”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of making clear, in various senses: about 1380, in the English Wycliffite sermons, where it is the brightening of the risen body that shines in heaven.^[2][7] The Middle English Dictionary also records purification (before 1398, in Trevisa), the dawning of the day and enlightenment.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the abstract action the word came to name particular kinds of clearing: the removal of obstructions or freeing from debt (1579), the clearance of a ship (1683–1724), and in the army the balance of an officer's pay after deductions (1689–1816).^[2][4] The sense "a piece of land cleared of trees for cultivation" is first recorded in 1817, in a journal by M. Birkbeck;^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1818 as American English,^[3] while the Shorter Oxford dates it to the late 17th century.^[4] Bartlett (1848) called it a common word in America,^[8] and in Canada a clearing was also a farm or settlement cut out of the bush.^[9] In the American South Midland a clearing was also a gathering of neighbours who helped a man clear his ground.^[10] The banking sense, the passing of cheques through a clearing house, is recorded from 1883,^[2] and since 1965 British students have used Clearing for the system that matches applicants to vacant university places.^[2] In Scots a clearing was a scolding.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – the action of making clear; brightening, clarifying.^[2][7]
• 1579 – the removal of obstructions; freeing from debt.^[2]
• 1689 – the balance of an officer's pay (obsolete by 1816).^[2][4]
• 1817 – a piece of land cleared for cultivation, especially in a forest.^[2][3]
• 1839 – the washing of calico to remove excess dye.^[2][4]
• 1883 – the passing of cheques through a clearing house.^[2]
• 1965 – in British education, the matching of applicants to vacant university places.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An area in a forest or overgrown land with few or no trees, especially one cleared for cultivation.^{[12][6][13][2]}
2. The act or process of making or becoming clear.^[6][13][2]
3. The exchange of cheques and bills among banks, with only the balances settled in cash; also, the settling of accounts in the same way.^[6][13][14]
4. (British) The system by which university applicants without a place are matched to unfilled places.^[2]
5. (obsolete, 1689–1816) The balance of an army officer's pay after deductions.^[2][4]

Word family

• clearing house
• clearing bank

Related words

• clear
• clearance

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
9. ^ Dollinger, Stefan, ed., A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 3rd ed. (online), Vancouver: University of British Columbia, dchp.arts.ubc.ca
10. ^ Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West