diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 18fb61b..ce504fd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -35,19 +35,33 @@ var sub = require('subleveldown')
 var level = require('level')
 
 var db = level('db')
+var example = sub(db, 'example')
+var nested = sub(example, 'nested')
+```
 
-var test = sub(db, 'test') // test is just a regular levelup
-var test2 = sub(db, 'test2')
-var nested = sub(test, 'nested')
+The `example` and `nested` db's are just regular [`levelup`][levelup] instances:
 
-test.put('hello', 'world', function() {
-  nested.put('hi', 'welt', function() {
+```js
+example.put('hello', 'world', function () {
+  nested.put('hi', 'welt', function () {
     // will print {key:'hello', value:'world'}
-    test.createReadStream().on('data', console.log)
+    example.createReadStream().on('data', console.log)
   })
 })
 ```
 
+They also support `db.clear()` which is very useful to empty a bucket of stuff:
+
+```js
+example.clear(function (err) {})
+
+// Or delete a range within `example`
+example.clear({ gt: 'hello' }, function (err) {})
+
+// For believers
+await example.clear()
+```
+
 ## Background
 
 `subleveldown` separates a [`levelup`][levelup] database into sections - or _sublevels_ from here on out. Think SQL tables, but evented, ranged and realtime!
diff --git a/leveldown.js b/leveldown.js
index c14092b..a07988e 100644
--- a/leveldown.js
+++ b/leveldown.js
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ var inherits = require('inherits')
 var abstract = require('abstract-leveldown')
 var wrap = require('level-option-wrap')
 
+var rangeOptions = 'start end gt gte lt lte'.split(' ')
+var defaultClear = abstract.AbstractLevelDOWN.prototype._clear
+var hasOwnProperty = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty
 var END = Buffer.from([0xff])
 
 function concat (prefix, key, force) {
@@ -123,6 +126,32 @@ SubDown.prototype._batch = function (operations, opts, cb) {
   this.leveldown.batch(operations, opts, cb)
 }
 
+SubDown.prototype._clear = function (opts, cb) {
+  if (typeof this.leveldown.clear === 'function') {
+    // Prefer optimized implementation of clear()
+    opts = addRestOptions(wrap(opts, this._wrap), opts)
+    this.leveldown.clear(opts, cb)
+  } else {
+    // Fall back to iterator-based implementation
+    defaultClear.call(this, opts, cb)
+  }
+}
+
+function addRestOptions (target, opts) {
+  for (var k in opts) {
+    if (hasOwnProperty.call(opts, k) && !isRangeOption(k)) {
+      target[k] = opts[k]
+    }
+  }
+
+  return target
+}
+
+function isRangeOption (k) {
+  return rangeOptions.indexOf(k) !== -1
+}
+
+// TODO (refactor): use addRestOptions instead
 function extend (xopts, opts) {
   xopts.keys = opts.keys
   xopts.values = opts.values
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8f31eaf..0c9aabf 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -16,17 +16,19 @@
     "test": "test"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "abstract-leveldown": "^6.0.2",
-    "encoding-down": "^6.0.1",
+    "abstract-leveldown": "^6.1.1",
+    "encoding-down": "^6.2.0",
     "inherits": "^2.0.3",
     "level-option-wrap": "^1.1.0",
-    "levelup": "^4.0.1"
+    "levelup": "^4.2.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
+    "after": "^0.8.2",
     "coveralls": "^3.0.2",
     "dependency-check": "^3.3.0",
     "hallmark": "^2.0.0",
     "level-community": "^3.0.0",
+    "level-concat-iterator": "^2.0.1",
     "memdown": "^5.0.0",
     "nyc": "^14.0.0",
     "standard": "^14.0.0",
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 255d5ab..a59feb1 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ var test = require('tape')
 var suite = require('abstract-leveldown/test')
 var memdown = require('memdown')
 var encoding = require('encoding-down')
+var concat = require('level-concat-iterator')
+var after = require('after')
 var subdown = require('../leveldown')
 var subdb = require('..')
 var levelup = require('levelup')
@@ -16,7 +18,10 @@ suite({
   // Unsupported features
   seek: false,
   createIfMissing: false,
-  errorIfExists: false
+  errorIfExists: false,
+
+  // Opt-in to new clear() tests
+  clear: true
 })
 
 // Test without a user-provided levelup layer
@@ -29,7 +34,10 @@ suite({
   // Unsupported features
   seek: false,
   createIfMissing: false,
-  errorIfExists: false
+  errorIfExists: false,
+
+  // Opt-in to new clear() tests
+  clear: true
 })
 
 // Additional tests for this implementation
@@ -283,4 +291,74 @@ test('SubDb main function', function (t) {
       })
     })
   })
+
+  t.test('clear (optimized)', function (t) {
+    var down = memdown()
+    t.is(typeof down.clear, 'function', 'has clear()')
+    testClear(t, down)
+  })
+
+  t.test('clear (with iterator-based fallback)', function (t) {
+    var down = memdown()
+    down.clear = undefined
+    testClear(t, down)
+  })
+
+  function testClear (t, down) {
+    const db = levelup(down)
+    const sub1 = subdb(db, '1')
+    const sub2 = subdb(db, '2')
+
+    populate([sub1, sub2], ['a', 'b'], function (err) {
+      t.ifError(err, 'no populate error')
+
+      verify(['!1!a', '!1!b', '!2!a', '!2!b'], function () {
+        clear([sub1], {}, function (err) {
+          t.ifError(err, 'no clear error')
+
+          verify(['!2!a', '!2!b'], function () {
+            populate([sub1], ['a', 'b'], function (err) {
+              t.ifError(err, 'no populate error')
+
+              clear([sub2], { lt: 'b' }, function (err) {
+                t.ifError(err, 'no clear error')
+                verify(['!1!a', '!1!b', '!2!b'], t.end.bind(t))
+              })
+            })
+          })
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
+    function populate (subs, items, callback) {
+      const next = after(subs.length, callback)
+
+      for (const sub of subs) {
+        sub.batch(items.map(function (item) {
+          return { type: 'put', key: item, value: item }
+        }), next)
+      }
+    }
+
+    function clear (subs, opts, callback) {
+      const next = after(subs.length, callback)
+
+      for (const sub of subs) {
+        sub.clear(opts, next)
+      }
+    }
+
+    function verify (expected, callback) {
+      concat(db.iterator({ keyAsBuffer: false }), function (err, entries) {
+        t.ifError(err, 'no concat error')
+        t.same(entries.map(getKey), expected)
+
+        if (callback) callback()
+      })
+    }
+  }
 })
+
+function getKey (entry) {
+  return entry.key
+}