meaning of clearance
1. The act of clearing; as, to make a thorough clearance.
2. A certificate that a ship or vessel has been cleared at the customhouse; permission to sail.
3. Clear or net profit.
4. The distance by which one object clears another, as the distance between the piston and cylinder head at the end of a stroke in a steam engine, or the least distance between the point of a cogwheel tooth and the bottom of a space between teeth of a wheel with which it engages.
5. permission to proceed; "the plane was given clearance to
">land"