In Australia, a person with no criminal record; someone morally or legally uncompromised; in livestock, an animal without brand marks.
From 'clean' + 'skin,' originally used to describe unmarked cattle. The term transferred to Australian slang for an unblemished person, particularly in legal contexts, by the early 1900s.
Australian cattle farmers needed a term for their unbranded stock, and 'cleanskin' worked perfectly—but when detectives adopted it for unblemished criminals, it revealed which ones might be hiding!
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