clearance

See also: Clearance

English edit

Etymology edit

clear +‎ -ance

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈklɪəɹən(t)s/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈklɪɹən(t)s/

Noun edit

clearance (countable and uncountable, plural clearances)

The act of clearing or something (such as a space) cleared.
The distance between two moving objects, especially between parts of a machine
The height or width of a tunnel, bridge or other passage, or the distance between a vehicle and the walls or roof of such passage; a gap, headroom.
- 1960 November, David Morgan, “""Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684:
  Piggybacking introduced severe clearance problems for many railroads.
A permission for a vehicle to proceed, or for a person to travel.
The plane got clearance from air traffic control, and we were off.

He got clearance to travel to America, even though he had previous links to terrorists.
A permission to have access to sensitive or secret documents or other information.
- 2018 July 31, Julia Carrie Wong, “What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:
  In a thread called “Calm Before the Storm”, and in subsequent posts, Q established his legend as a government insider with top security clearance who knew the truth about a secret struggle for power involving Donald Trump, the “deep state”, Robert Mueller, the Clintons, pedophile rings, and other stuff.
A permission to use something, usually intellectual property, that is legally, but not otherwise, protected.
(retail) A sale of merchandise, especially at significantly reduced prices, usually in order to make room for new merchandise or updated versions of the same merchandise; sometimes as a closeout.
(banking, finance) The settlement of transactions involving securities or means of payment such as checks by means of a clearing house.
(medicine) The removal of harmful substances from the blood; renal clearance.
(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The act of potting all the remaining balls on a table at one visit.
(soccer) The act of kicking a ball away from the goal one is defending.
Synonym: clearing
- 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎^[2]:
  Bolton were then just inches from taking the lead, but the dangerous-looking Taylor drilled just wide after picking up a loose ball following Jose Bosingwa's poor attempted clearance.
(chess) Removal of pieces from a rank, file or diagonal so that a bishop, rook or queen is free to move along it.
Clear or net profit.
- 1859, Anthony Trollope, The West Indies and the Spanish Main:
  There can, I believe, be no doubt of this, that sugar can be made better and cheaper in large quantities than in small. But the clearance, sir; that is the question. How would this affect the clearance? The sugar manufacturer would want his profit.
(Australian rules football) The first disposal in a chain that leaves the area of a stoppage, or a disposal that leaves the area of a stoppage itself.
(Australian rules football) The act of leaving the area of a stoppage.