spick-and-span

spick-and-span meaning in Kannada and Arabic

Examples of spick-and-span in a sentence

• Chow, for instance, drew up one afternoon in their spick-and-span coupe with their intolerably spotless only child sitting self-consciously beside them.1922, Christopher Morley, Where the Blue Begins:
• The "V4" 2-6-2 Bantam Cock is now stationed at Norwich, and its spick-and-span condition does credit to the cleaners at that shed.1942 March, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes”, in Railway Magazine, page 93:

Synonyms of spick-and-span

• clean
• clean as a bean
• clean as a hound's tooth
• clean as a new penny
• clean as a new pin
• clean as a whistle
• immaculate
• pristine
• spotless
• squeaky clean

All synonyms of spick-and-span

Forms of spick-and-span

Origin of spick-and-span

From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood”) (1570s), from spick (“nail”, variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new”) (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip”) (cognate to Old English spón, English spoon, due to spoons once being made of wood) + nyr (“new”) (cognate to Old English nīewe, English new). Imitation of Dutch spiksplinternieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”), for a freshly built ship. Observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term.

Related words

• spick

Questions about spick-and-span

What does spick-and-span mean?

Spick-and-span means clean, spotless.

What is spick-and-span in Kannada?

Spick-and-span in Kannada is ಹೊಚ್ಚಹೊಸ, ಠಾಕುಠೀಕಾದ, ಸ್ವಚ್ಛ. See Spick-and-span meaning in Kannada.

How do you use spick-and-span in a sentence?

Chow, for instance, drew up one afternoon in their spick-and-span coupe with their intolerably spotless only child sitting self-consciously beside them.

What part of speech is spick-and-span?

Spick-and-span is an adjective.