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Clean (Grose 1811 Dictionary)

Clean

Expert; clever. Amongst the knuckling coves he is reckoned very clean; he is considered very expert as a pickpocket.

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

Cleaver * Clerked

Nearby

Nathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang

John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes

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About

Francis Grose was independently wealthy, having inherited money from his father, a jeweller. Finding himself overspending, he published a number of books; his Provincial Glossary seems to have been the starting-point for the Vulgar Tongue reproduced here.

Clanker
Clap
Clap on the Shoulder
Clapper
Clapper Claw
Clapperdogeon
Claret
Clawed off
Clear
Cleaver
Clean
Clerked
Cleymes
Click
To Click
Clicker
Clicket
Climb
Clinch
Clink
Clinkers