clearing the neighborhood

Verb

clear the neighborhood (third-person singular simple present clears the neighborhood, present participle clearing the neighborhood, simple past and past participle cleared the neighborhood)

1. To become gravitationally dominant, such that there are no other bodies of comparable size within its orbit, other than its natural satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence.
   • Clearing the neighborhood is one of three necessary criteria for a celestial body to be considered a planet in the Solar System, according to the definition adopted in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see clear, the, neighborhood.
   • He clears the neighborhood and drives toward the busier part of town, unaware he's doing fifty till he skids to meet a red light.2013 February 5, Dennis Mahoney, Fellow Mortals: A Novel, Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 73