clearance

Noun

clearance (countable and uncountable, plural clearances)

1. The act of clearing or something (such as a space) cleared.
   • In conclusion, it must be reiterated that effective snow clearance is largely a matter of forward planning and departmental co-operation.1960 January, M. Harbottle, “Maintaining Services after Heavy Snowfalls”, in Railway Magazine, page 12
2. The distance between two moving objects, especially between parts of a machine
3. The height or width of a tunnel, bridge or other passage, or the distance between a vehicle and the walls or roof of such passage; a gap, headroom.
   • Clearance on these freeway overpasses is limited, so big trucks must detour.
   • When the scheme is completed, the 99-year-old swing bridge over the canal will be dispensed with as the new bridge will have sufficient height to allow clearance for the passage of canal traffic.1954 February, “Notes and News: Deviation at Bramwith”, in Railway Magazine, page 137
4. A permission for a vehicle to proceed, or for a person to travel.
   • The plane got clearance from air traffic control, and we were off.
   • He got clearance to travel to America, even though he had previous links to terrorists.
5. A permission to have access to sensitive or secret documents or other information.
   • In a thread called “Calm Before the Storm”, and in subsequent posts, Q established his legend as a government insider with top security clearance who knew the truth about a secret struggle for power involving Donald Trump, the “deep state”, Robert Mueller, the Clintons, pedophile rings, and other...2018 July 31, Julia Carrie Wong, “What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory”, in The Guardian
6. A permission to use something, usually intellectual property, that is legally, but not otherwise, protected.
7. A sale of merchandise, especially at significantly reduced prices, usually in order to make room for new merchandise or updated versions of the same merchandise; sometimes as a closeout.
8. The settlement of transactions involving securities or means of payment such as checks by means of a clearing house.
9. The removal of harmful substances from the blood; renal clearance.
10. The act of potting all the remaining balls on a table at one visit.
11. The act of kicking a ball away from the goal one is defending.
    • Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance.2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC

    Synonyms:

    clearing

12. Removal of pieces from a rank, file or diagonal so that a bishop, rook or queen is free to move along it.