How often my wife was at me about that projected grand entrance-hall of hers, which was to be knocked clean through the chimney,
What is the meaning of the highlighted section?
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Welcome to the site. The question is about a puzzling idiom. There are many uses of "clean" and it is not reasonable to expect a non-native (I assume) speaker to recognise the appropriate idiomatic usage. No source is needed to define the question better. I therefore do not understand the unexplained downvote and have compensated for it.– AntonFeb 2 at 18:08
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1 Answer
"clean" is used informally to emphasize that something was done completely, thoroughly (definition 12). "clean through" is similar to "straight through".
It seems that the wife wants to build a grand entrance hall through where the chimney is. The chimney will need to be demolished.
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+1 though I wonder whether through may suggest the width of the entrance hall is going to be no more than the width of the chimney.– HenryFeb 1 at 17:40
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That was my concern. When I go straight through something, I expect it to be bigger than me, whether or not I leave a me-sized hole in it.– HenryFeb 1 at 17:48