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What is "to make a clean breast"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To make a clean breast

Breast \Breast\ (br[e^]st), n. [OE. brest, breost, As. bre['o]st; akin to Icel. brj[=o]st, Sw. br["o]st, Dan. bryst, Goth. brusts, OS. briost, D. borst, G. brust.]

  1. The fore part of the body, between the neck and the belly; the chest; as, the breast of a man or of a horse.

  2. Either one of the protuberant glands, situated on the front of the chest or thorax in the female of man and of some other mammalia, in which milk is secreted for the nourishment of the young; a mamma; a teat.

    My brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother.
    --Cant. viii. 1.

  3. Anything resembling the human breast, or bosom; the front or forward part of anything; as, a chimney breast; a plow breast; the breast of a hill.

    Mountains on whose barren breast The laboring clouds do often rest.
    --Milton.

  4. (Mining)

    1. The face of a coal working.

    2. The front of a furnace.

  5. The seat of consciousness; the repository of thought and self-consciousness, or of secrets; the seat of the affections and passions; the heart.

    He has a loyal breast.
    --Shak.

  6. The power of singing; a musical voice; -- so called, probably, from the connection of the voice with the lungs, which lie within the breast. [Obs.]

    By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast.
    --Shak.

    Breast drill, a portable drilling machine, provided with a breastplate, for forcing the drill against the work.

    Breast pang. See Angina pectoris, under Angina.

    To make a clean breast, to disclose the secrets which weigh upon one; to make full confession.

To make a clean breast

Clean \Clean\ (kl[=e]n), a. [Compar. Cleaner (kl[=e]n"[~e]r); superl. Cleanest.] [OE. clene, AS. cl[=ae]ne; akin to OHG. chleini pure, neat, graceful, small, G. klein small, and perh. to W. glan clean, pure, bright; all perh. from a primitive, meaning bright, shining. Cf. Glair.]

  1. Free from dirt or filth; as, clean clothes.

  2. Free from that which is useless or injurious; without defects; as, clean land; clean timber.

  3. Free from awkwardness; not bungling; adroit; dexterous; as, a clean trick; a clean leap over a fence.

  4. Free from errors and vulgarisms; as, a clean style.

  5. Free from restraint or neglect; complete; entire.

    When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of corners of thy field.
    --Lev. xxiii. 22.

  6. Free from moral defilement; sinless; pure.

    Create in me a clean heart, O God.
    --Ps. li. 10

    That I am whole, and clean, and meet for Heaven
    --Tennyson.

  7. (Script.) Free from ceremonial defilement.

  8. Free from that which is corrupting to the morals; pure in tone; healthy. ``Lothair is clean.''
    --F. Harrison.

  9. Well-proportioned; shapely; as, clean limbs.

    A clean bill of health, a certificate from the proper authority that a ship is free from infection.

    Clean breach. See under Breach, n., 4.

    To make a clean breast. See under Breast.

Usage examples of "to make a clean breast".

So I decided to make a clean breast of it and accept a spanking if he thought I rated it.

Dear Lucy, I am much worried, and I advise you to make a clean breast of his past behaviour to your mother, Freddy, and Mr.

He had announced to her that morning that he wished to make a clean breast of it with Tonia and that they must stop seeing each other, but now he had the feeling that he had softened it all down and not made it sufficiently definite.

I watched Delaunay give his testimony, saying how Gaspar had known naught of the plot and brought word straight to him, heeding his advice to make a clean breast of it to the King, and I was proud to be a member of his household.

Then it was that Waldo determined to make a clean breast of it, and admit that he never before had seen a live panther.

Only in blackest moods was I inclined to make a clean breast of things, but I pouted to Lady C.

I was glad to be given a chance to make a clean breast of it, and I have been given no in-ducement or promises of better treatment for confession.