English

Verb

show a clean pair of heels ‎(third-person singular simple present shows a clean pair of heels, present participle showing a clean pair of heels, simple past and past participle showed a clean pair of heels)

1. (idiomatic) to run away quickly; to make an escape quickly; to outpace
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, Richard Maxwell, editor, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Penguin Classics, published 2003, ISBN 9780141439600, Chapter XXIV, page 249:

     ‘[...]No, gentlemen; he'll always show ’em a clean pair of heels very early in the scuffle, and sneak away.’

   • 1977, Brian Schofield, Gerald Jordan, editor, Naval Warfare In The Twentieth Century 1900—1945, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780844810140, ‘Jacky’ Fisher, HMS Indomitable and the Dogger Bank Action: A Personal Memoir, page 66:

     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 untilt hey disappeared into the Straits of Messina to coal.

   • 2005 April, Bernard Brown, “The Sherlock Holmes of ‘G’ Division”, in Dan Norder, editor, Ripper Notes, number 22, Inklings Press, ISBN 9780975912935, page 33:

     During the melee the suspect had run off, showing a clear pair of heels.