clearer

Pluralclearers

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of clear.

   After the storm passed, the sky grew clearer by the hour.

   The audio sounded clearer once the technician fixed the microphone.

   Note

   This is the suffixed comparative. Clear is short enough to take -er, and more clear is possible but much less common. It covers the adjective's whole range: a clearer sky, clearer water, a road clearer of obstacles, a clearer explanation. It is spelled exactly like the agent noun but comes from the adjective rather than the verb, and a following than marks the comparison.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A person who, or thing which, clears something.

   As the lead clearer, she decided which obstacles to move first.

   The crew of clearers cut a path through the dense undergrowth.

   Note

   An agent noun built from the verb clear plus -er, and so a different word from the comparative adjective spelled the same way. It can be figurative. Addison and Steele, writing in 1711, call gold "a wonderful clearer of the understanding": something that clears the mind rather than a path. Grammar tells the two words apart, since a clearer of something is the noun and clearer than something is the adjective.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   An unskilled worker who clears away trash and other waste from a work site.

   The foreman sent a clearer down to muck out the flooded passage.

   Each morning the clearers carted off the previous day's debris.

   Note

   Mining narrows the general sense to a job title. The refuse in question is waste rock and spoil, and the clearer's work keeps a working area free of it so that skilled work can continue. The word names a role rather than a craft, which is why the job is called unskilled. That sets it apart from the miners whose work it supports.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A tool with which sailmakers finish the hemp used for lines and twines.

   He passed each strand over the clearer before twisting it into twine.

   A well-kept clearer left the hemp even enough for fine cordage.

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