clean as a whistle

Slang definitions & phrases for clean as a whistle

clean as a whistle

adjective phrase

Perfectly clean (first form 1828+, second 1940s+)

Idioms and Phrases with clean as a whistle

clean as a whistle

Completely, entirely, thoroughly, as in He chopped off the branch, clean as a whistle. The allusion in this simile is unclear. It may have been a replacement for the 18th-century clear as a whistle, which alluded to the pure, clean sound of a whistle (it has few overtones). However, it was adopted to describe something thoroughly done. [ Early 1800s ]