Spick and Span

Meaning of Idiom ‘Spick and Span’

To be spick and span means to be very neat, clean, and organized; to be perfectly maintained and looking as if new.  1Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995., 2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013., 3Bengelsdorf, Peter. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012.

Want to see more videos from Idioms.Online? Subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Examples Of Use

“My aunt, who always kept her house spick and span, used to annoy my mother by cleaning our house every time she visited.”

“If you really want to keep your house spick and span, have a cleaning service come by once or twice a week.”

“I’ve always kept my car spick and span.”

“The bathroom is spick and span. Now it’s time to clean the kitchen.”

“My mother is obsessed with her floors. She keeps them spick and span and still thinks they’re dirty.”

“It’s a myth that if you have roaches it means your house is filthy. Roaches invade even the most spick and span homes.”

Origin

This idiom originally meant “very new.” The idiom seems to have started as “span new,” which was used at least as early as the 1300’s. At some point, the word spick was added to become “spick and span new.” The term spick meant a “nail” or “spike” and the term span meant “a wooden chip.”

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, during the 1500’s, a sailing ship was considered “spick and span [new]” when every nail and chip was brand-new. The current meaning evolved during the mid-1800’s. 4Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013., 5Bengelsdorf, Peter. Idioms in the News – 1,000 Phrases, Real Examples. N.p.: Amz Digital Services, 2012.

The word spick only survives in the idiom and is considered a fossil word.

More Idioms Starting with S

• Stand On Someone’s Shoulders
• Sleep Tight
• Screw UP
• Shoot Down
• Ship Out

More Clean Idioms

• Come Clean
• Clean Bill of Health
• Clean Up Your Act
• Clean as a Whistle
• Clean as a Hound’s Tooth

More Neat Idioms

More Nautical Idioms

• Go Overboard
• On the Rocks
• With Flying Colors
• The Bitter End, to (until)
• Tell That To The Marines!

This page contains one or more affiliate links. See full affiliate disclosure.