Spick-and-span Definition

Origin of Spick-and-span

• From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood") (1570s), from spick (“nail") (variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new") (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip") (cognate to Old English spón, Modern English spoon, due to old spoons being made of wood) + nyr (“new") (cognate to Old English nÄ«we, Modern English new). Imitation of Dutch spiksplinter nieuw (literally “spike-splinter new") , for a freshly built ship. Observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term.

  From Wiktionary

• Short for obsolete spick and span-new spick spike (variant of spike) span-new

  From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition