Honest, ethical, and without guilt; free from dishonesty or wrongdoing, as if one's hands were literally clean.
From 'clean' + 'handed,' an old idiom comparing moral purity to physical cleanliness. The phrase dates to at least the 1600s and reflects the universal metaphor of cleanliness as innocence.
This phrase connects to the biblical image of washing hands to declare innocence—Pontius Pilate famously 'washed his hands' to claim moral detachment, making the metaphor one of history's most ironic reversals!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.