Clear and Float in CSS

Question

1. Does "clear" only affect floating? Nothing else can be cleared?

2. If "clear" only affects floating, why not use float: no-left or no-right or not both to do the same job? This should be more convenient or straightforward to memorize.

Answer 1

1. I understand float and clear to be paired properties.

2. Old standard, in English. "Clear" is in the sense of "A plane clearing the tallest mountain peak", that is: instead of finding the first place you could fit your stunt plane in a slot between peaks, go over (past) the tallest entirely.

Maybe they thought 'clearing' in this sense was most precise.

Nice visuals and historical changes:
https://css-tricks.com/all-about-floats/
https://css-tricks.com/the-how-and-why-of-clearing-floats/
https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/clear-fix/

============= Coming soon? =============
They hint at new ideas, but see this:

"CSS Grid has been in development behind a flag in most browsers for over 5 years..."
https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/01/css-grid

CSS Grid changes everything - Amazing presentation (32:06)
https://youtu.be/7kVeCqQCxlk