spick-and-span

[spik-uh n-span]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR spick-and-span ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

spotlessly clean and neat: a spick-and-span kitchen.

perfectly new; fresh.

adverb

in a spick-and-span manner.

Origin of spick-and-span

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for spick and span

precise, accurate, tidy, slick, sleek, elegant, orderly, spotless, immaculate, smart, well-kept, late, different, state-of-the-art, modern, unusual, unfamiliar, contemporary, current, strange

British Dictionary definitions for spick and span

spick-and-span

spic-and-span

adjective

extremely neat and clean

new and fresh

Word Origin for spick-and-span

C17: shortened from spick-and-span-new, from obsolete spick spike, nail + span-new

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with 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.