clear the air, to

To remove confusion or controversy. The analogy to stormy weather was made as long ago as the fourteenth century, although at first the term meant to free something from clouds or other obscuring ele- ments. In time it came to mean getting rid of the sultry oppressiveness com- mon before a storm, which then was transferred to the removal of misunderstanding or ambiguity. Thus a British reporter wrote, “His explicit . . . reply to Parnell’s speech . . . cleared the air” (Manchester Examiner, 1885).