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Clear Out For Guam
(To) The ship is bound for no specific place. In the
height of the gold fever, ships were chartered to carry passengers to
Australia without having return cargoes secured for them. They were,
therefore, obliged to leave Melbourne in ballast, and to sail in search
of homeward freights. The Custom House regulations required, however,
that, on clearing outwards, some port should be named; and it became
the habit of captains to name “Guam” (a small island of the Ladrone
group) as the hypothetical destination. Hence, “to clear out for Guam”
came to mean, clear out for just anywhere- we are bound for whatever
coast we may choose to venture upon (See Notes and Queries,
April 18th 1885, p. 314)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Clear Out For Guam from Infoplease:
- Clear Out For Guam - Clear Out For Guam (To) The ship is bound for no specific place. In the height of the gold fever, ...
- Clear Out For Guam - Clear Out For Guam (To) The ship is bound for no specific place. In the height of the gold fever, ...
- Clear - Clear (verb). Clear away. Remove. Clear off! Away with you! Take away. Clear out. Empty out, make ...
- Clear - Clear (verb). Clear away. Remove. Clear off! Away with you! Take away. Clear out. Empty out, make ...
- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: C - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "C"
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