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• spick-and-span
  spick-and-span

  adjective

  spotlessly clean and neat.
• spick and span
  spick and span

  Neat and clean, as in When Ruth has finished cleaning, the whole house is spick and span. This term combines two nouns that are now obsolete, spick, “a nail” or “spike,” and span, “a wooden chip.” In the 1500s a sailing ship was considered spick and span when every spike and chip was brand-new. The transfer to the current sense took place in the mid-1800s.

spick-and-span

American  

[spik-uhn-span] / ˈspɪk ənˈspæn /

adjective

1. spotlessly clean and neat.

   a spick-and-span kitchen.

2. perfectly new; fresh.

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adverb

1. in a spick-and-span manner.

spick-and-span British  

/ ˈspɪkənˈspæn /

adjective

1. extremely neat and clean

2. new and fresh

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spick and span Idioms  

1. Neat and clean, as in When Ruth has finished cleaning, the whole house is spick and span. This term combines two nouns that are now obsolete, spick, “a nail” or “spike,” and span, “a wooden chip.” In the 1500s a sailing ship was considered spick and span when every spike and chip was brand-new. The transfer to the current sense took place in the mid-1800s.

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Etymology

Origin of spick-and-span

1570–80; short for spick-and-span-new, alliterative extension of span-new

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spick-and-span spick and span

None of these adjustments would entail an overwhelming commitment to being spick-and-span, and will go a long way toward making you feel like the bed belongs to both of you and not just him.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2020

According to the outlet, 55 percent of respondents — who had all reportedly visited the chain within the last six months — agreed that the establishment was consistently the most spick-and-span.

From Fox News ● Oct. 2, 2019

The 95-year-old man in the red brick house at 33-18 89th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, was known for keeping his yard spick-and-span, even tidying up rubbish on his neighbors’ stoops.

From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2018

Using the right lens cleaner is only half the battle—you’ve got to use it with the right cloth to really get things spick-and-span.

From Slate ● May 8, 2018

Nurse Duckett and Nurse Cramer kept him spick-and-span.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Once the house was spick and span, caring womenfolk would also ensure their husbands were comfortable and well-supplied with smoking paraphernalia and slippers.

From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2018

I filled out the form on their website to register a request to clean a filthy bus stop area and in less than 24 hours the bus stop was spick and span!

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 16, 2018

Actually, to find any urban environment that is this spick and span, you’d need to look back to the 1970s, when Mary Tyler Moore conquered Minneapolis on television.

From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2014

There was determined, if sometimes breathy singing from the City of London Choir, and though the RPO was not always ideally spick and span, it gave a good account of itself throughout.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 27, 2012

Nightingale answers, “Sir, this is a spell against ’em, spick and span new: and ’tis made as ’twere in mine own person, and I sing it in mine own defence.

From A History of the Cries of London Ancient and Modern by Charles Hindley

Related Words

• clean
• clean and tidy