Clean hands


Also found in: Legal, Idioms, Wikipedia.
Related to Clean hands: Clean hands doctrine
freedom from guilt, esp. from the guilt of dishonesty in money matters, or of bribe taking.

See also: Hand

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.
References in classic literature ?
got from me what I had kept these three-and-twenty years and more, defending it against Moors and Christians, natives and strangers; and I always as hard as an oak, and keeping myself as pure as a salamander in the fire, or wool among the brambles, for this good fellow to come now with clean hands to handle me!"
"It remains to be proved whether this gallant has clean hands or not," said Sancho; and turning to the man he asked him what he had to say in answer to the woman's charge.
The men were of all sorts, old and young, tall and short; but every one had tried to make himself smart for the interview with the manager: they had carefully brushed hair and scrupulously clean hands. They waited in a passage which Philip learnt afterwards led up to the dining-hall and the work rooms; it was broken every few yards by five or six steps.
You brought them with clean hands, sir, and I accepted them with clean hands.
Pickwick was anxious to call upon you, Serjeant Snubbin,' said Perker, 'to state to you, before you entered upon the case, that he denies there being any ground or pretence whatever for the action against him; and that unless he came into court with clean hands, and without the most conscientious conviction that he was right in resisting the plaintiff's demand, he would not be there at all.
It's a clean hand now; shake it -- don't be afeard."
In addition, the new design eliminates the need to stop and find a sink to clean hands. The unit saves time and effort and is ideal for use in areas without a sink or running water.
Lanlehin, in a statement by his media aide, Damola Adeoye, congratulated Ladoja for the victory, saying his acquittal has further confirmed Ladoja's integrity as a man who went into equity with clean hands and returned with his hands unsoiled.
He also told the audience that his boldness in confronting the federal might was because he has 'clean hands' otherwise he 'would have been dealt with seriously'.
He said that he had refused to approve the summary of Law Ministry before assuming the charge of Law Minister but surprisingly the IO alleged him for not having clean hands in the matter.
A firm believer that food can be enjoyed through 'kamayan', Safeguard has been an advocate of eating with clean hands.
This year's Global Handwashing Day theme is 'Clean Hands: A recipe for health'.