Clearing -house

(klēring-.) (Com.) The place where is carried on the operation of clearing off balances and adjusting daily accounts between bankers of the same city; thus avoiding the inconvenience of handling large amounts in currency or convertible paper. Each bank, or banker, dispatches a clerk to the C.-H., who there draws up an abstract of the checks upon other firms, and effects a clearance by exchanging them against those drawn on the bank to which he belongs. The balance is paid over in cash. The first C.-H. in the U. States was established in New York in 1833. In England, the railway companies, as well as the banks, make use of the clearing system. [s. 195]