Dictionary

show a clean pair of heels en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To run away; to make an escape quickly.
   • ‘[...]No, gentlemen; he'll always show ’em a clean pair of heels very early in the scuffle, and sneak away.’ 1859, Charles Dickens, edited by Richard Maxwell, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Penguin Classics, published 2003, →ISBN, Chapter XXIV, page 249:
   • During the melee the suspect had run off, showing a clear pair of heels. 2005 April, Bernard Brown, “The Sherlock Holmes of ‘G’ Division”, in Dan Norder, editor, Ripper Notes, number 22, Inklings Press, →ISBN, page 33:
   • The two German ships soon showed us and the battle-cruiser Indefatigable in company, a clean pair of heels, though the cruiser HMS Dublin managed to keep them in sight until they disappeared into the Straits of Messina to coal. 1977, Brian Schofield, edited by Gerald Jordan, Naval Warfare In The Twentieth Century 1900—1945, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, ‘Jacky’ Fisher, HMS Indomitable and the Dogger Bank Action: A Personal Memoir, page 66:
   • But in the second column the "Britannia" Pacific , though with one coach less, showed a cleaner pair of heels, [...]. 1959 March, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Trains Illustrated, page 133:

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