What does "clear of clouds" mean in FAA FAR part 103? In FAR part 103 when they are talking about visibility requirements for flying an ultralight, sometimes instead of giving exact distances, they will just say "clear of clouds".

For example:

                                   Minimum
                                  flight
                                visibility
      Flight altitudes             /1/       Minimum distance from clouds
1,200 feet or less above the
surface regardless of MSL
altitude:
(1) Within controlled airspace      3       500 feet below, 1,000 feet above, 2,000 feet horizontal.
(2) Outside controlled airspace     1       Clear of clouds.


Or here:

                                      Flight
          Airspace                visibility        Distance from clouds

Class G:
1,200 feet or less above the 
surface (regardless of MSL
altitude)                       1 statute mile   Clear of clouds.
More than 1,200 feet above the
surface but less than 10,000
feet MSL                        1 statute mile   500 feet below.
                                                 1,000 feet above.
                                                 2,000 feet horizontal.


What does "Clear of Clouds" mean in this context?  Just that I should remain clear of the clouds, or does it mean that the sky must be clear of clouds in the defined space?

And if it does just mean I need to stay "clear of the clouds", how exactly is that defined?  1000ft?  100ft? 10ft?  What exactly?
It means you have to stay outside the cloud while flying. You're expected to use your own good judgment (remember it is illegal to fly into the cloud, and if you don't have proper instruments and know what you're doing, it's downright deadly) but there is no minimum clearance as there is at other times, so if you really felt like a daredevil you could reach out and touch a low-hanging "popcorn cloud" with your wingtip. This term is often used in situations where vertical separation minima from clouds is not practical (to stay 500 feet underneath a VMC-friendly cloud layer would require altitudes as low as 500 feet AGL; there are a lot of hazards to navigation at that height from radio antennae to city skylines)