Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of clear the decks English)
Usage examples of "clearing the decks".
If all hell was going to break loose when he had to use it, he figured on clearing the decks as much as possible beforehand.
I heard him say the best thing I ever heard in my life, straight off, taking it on the half-volley, no clearing the decks and beating to action.
Steve, by contrast, had made a point of clearing the decks - a fact that probably contributed to her ill-humour.
It was her way of clearing the decks and he took it for a bad sign.
He went down to the workshop directly he got home and took the little bronze sphere of the automatic pilot from the bench and packed it carefully away in rags in an old cigar box with its tiny transistor rectifier and the delicate relays, clearing the decks for a more mundane job, and started work upon the handlebars.
They were clearing the decks now for the Egg and Spoon Race, and I thought I might as well stay where I was and watch the finish.