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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 World Economic Forum, the nonprofit business leadership foundation, occupies one of these buildings, its former mess hall now a spick-and-span meeting space.

From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 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

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

The entire block could be dirty and dishevelled but the front of 947 Bennett Place was always spick and span.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2017

With the house spick and span there was a nervous wait before the refugees arrived on 13 July.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2017

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

His city house is of the spick and span order, and he evinces a great interest in burglar-proof devices.

From The Best Psychic Stories by Various

Related Words

• clean
• clean and tidy