{"id":165,"date":"2021-11-02T16:42:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=165"},"modified":"2021-11-02T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T16:42:11","slug":"clean-as-a-whistle-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/clean-as-a-whistle-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean as a Whistle - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you about to wash your car or take a shower? After you finish, your vehicle or your body is \"<em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.\" This idiom <strong>describes cleanliness or actions<\/strong>. There are several ways to use this idiom, and it's a common phrase used in modern language, even though it dates back to the early 1800s.<\/p>\n<p>Let's unpack everything you need to know about the origins of this idiom, how to use it in a sentence, and its opposites.<\/p>\n<h2>Clean as a Whistle Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>To be \"<em>clean as a whistle<\/em>\" refers to words like <u>clean, clear, and spotless.<\/u> The cleaning is thorough and complete, and <u>you can't do a better job<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>The idiom may also refer to being innocent or free of guilt or wrongdoing. You could also use it to describe the action of cleaning, referring to the person's skill or the results of the task at hand.<\/p>\n<h2>Clean as a Whistle Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>There are several ways to use this idiom in modern language; here are a few examples.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While his car was an old beater, he kept it <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>After cleaning her home, Susan's windows were <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Every week, he gets in trouble with the school principal but always walks away <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Her criminal record is <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>My father has amazing skill with a chainsaw, leaving a cut that's <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>He had his arm taken off by the sword <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Wash the deck until it's <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>, sailor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"idioms 101 - as clean as a whistle\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OAqWoc_cNLI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Clean as a Whistle Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of the idiom, <em>clean as a whistle<\/em>, comes from the early 1800s. The phrase seems to reiterate the older phrase, \"<em>as clear as a whistle<\/em>.\" Whistles make a shrill tone piercing silence, reaching over long distances, creating a clear or clean sound.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the expression became a means of referring to a task or methodology being thorough or clear. Over the decades, people replaced the \"clear\" with \"clean\" in the phrase. While that might seem like an interesting exchange, the two words may have interchangeable references, such as cutting wood, <strong><em>sheer, clean, or clear<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The words clear and clean would later evolve into unmistakable or unambiguous. Today, the phrase describes more tasks than just chopping wood or cleaning a floor.<\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Clean as a Whistle<\/h2>\n<p>There are a few phrases that are similar in meaning to <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Clear as a whistle.<\/li>\n<li>Clean as a whittle.<\/li>\n<li>Sparkling clean.<\/li>\n<li>Shiny and clean.<\/li>\n<li>Cut and dry.<\/li>\n<li>Clean cut.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Clean as a Whistle<\/h2>\n<p><em>As clean as a whistle<\/em> has an opposite meaning to the following idioms.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dirty as a dog.<\/li>\n<li>Rough and ragged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<p>The <u>correct saying <\/u>of the phrase is the following.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As clean as a whistle.<\/li>\n<li>As cleanly as a whistle.<\/li>\n<li>As clear as a whistle.<\/li>\n<li>As clean as a whittle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Clean as a Whistle Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>As clean as a whistle is usually referring to an <u>action resulting in a superb finish<\/u>. However, some people may use the phrase incorrectly. Here are a few examples.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I left my job as <em>clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Stop shouting at me <em>as clear as a whistle<\/em>?<\/li>\n<li>They left the party <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Clean as a Whistle<\/h2>\n<p>You can phrase \"<em>clear as a whistle<\/em>\" in a few different ways but still retain the same meaning.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We cleaned our plates <em>as clean as a whistle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you about to wash your car or take a shower? After you finish, your vehicle or your body is \"as clean as a whistle.\" This idiom describes cleanliness or actions. There are several ways to use this idiom, and it's a common phrase used in modern language, even though it dates back to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions\/166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}