clean bill of health

noun

1. a certificate of health attesting the lack of a contagious disease, as on a ship.
2. an assurance, as by a doctor, that one is in good health.
3. Also clean bill. an assurance, especially an official verdict by a committee, that a group or an individual has proved, under investigation, to be morally sound, fit for office, etc.

clean bill of health

1. To “get a clean bill of health” is to be told by some authoritative source, generally a doctor, that one is perfectly healthy. The phrase is sometimes used figuratively to indicate that a person or organization has been found free of any sort of irregularity: “After looking into her financial background, the Senate gave the nominee a clean bill of health.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of clean bill of health¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Idioms and Phrases

A report confirming the absence of fault or guilt in a person or thing, as in Jeff checked every component and gave the computer a clean bill of health , or He had a foolproof alibi so the police had to give him a clean bill of health . This term comes from a 17th-century practice of requiring ships to produce a medical document ( bill ) attesting to the absence of infectious disease on board before landing.