From Middle English cleven, from the Old English strong verb clēofan (“to split, to separate”), from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban, from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, to slice”).
Doublet of clive. Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, Norwegian Nynorsk kløyva; also Ancient Greek γλύφω (glúphō, “carve”).
Meanings
Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
A cut (slash) or a cut location, either naturally or artificially.
There are very striking scenes on some of the lesser streams at this portion of their course. The deep gorge of the Lyd is famous. In the "cleaves," or cleft rocky valleys of Lustleigh and of the Tavy, many a long summer day may be spent with delight; and the Erme, which descends by Ivy Bridge, is not less worthy of a pilgrimage. As the rivers leave the moorland they are crossed by venerable and picturesque bridges which, like that of Harford in our illustration, sometimes afford an admirable framework for the distant landscape. 1876-1879, Picturesque Europe: With Illustrations on Steel and Wood by the Most Eminent Artists, Cassell, Petter, Galpin, page 213:
The valley by which the Taw leaves the Moor forms one of the cleaves that add so greatly to the attractions of the place, and this bears the same name as the parish. 1905, William Crossing, Gems in a Granite Setting; Beauties of the Lone Land of Dartmoor, Plymouth Western Morning News Company, page 48:
Early the next morning, when there was a tender pink light upon all the moor, and the gentle wind was filled with the purest odours found upon earth, the smell of firs and peat and dewy heather, and the first sunbeams seemed to be creeping down the side of the cleave to drink of the river, poor ill-used John Petherick was evicted at last from Wheal Dream and went into the immortality which he could not think about. 1909, John Trevena, Heather, Moffat, Yard and Company, page 447:
From Middle English cleven, from the Old English strong verb clēofan (“to split, to separate”), from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban, from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, to slice”).
Doublet of clive. Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, Norwegian Nynorsk kløyva; also Ancient Greek γλύφω (glúphō, “carve”).
Meanings
(transitive) To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
Hee claue the rockes in the wildernes: and gaue them drinke as out of the great depthes. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 78:15:
O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
Some clock clove with silver the stillness of the morning. Ere came the second stroke, another and nearer clock was striking. And now there were others chiming in. The air was confused with the sweet babel of its many spires, some of them booming deep, measured sequences, some tinkling impatiently and outwitting others which had begun before them. And when this anthem of jealous antiphonies and uneven rhythms had dwindled quite away and fainted in one last solitary note of silver, there started somewhere another sequence; and this, almost at its last stroke, was interrupted by yet another, which went on to tell the hour of noon in its own way, quite slowly and significantly, as though none knew it. 1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1912, →OCLC:
The wings clove the foggy air.
(transitive) To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
(transitive) To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
The truck clove a path through the ice.
(transitive) (chemistry) To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
(intransitive) To split.
And it came to passe as he had made an ende of speaking all these words, that the ground claue asunder that was vnder them: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 16:31:
(intransitive) Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
oc asclar (intransitive to split) · it tagliare (transitive mineralogy) · grc σχίζω (transitive to split or sever) · fi lohkaista (transitive mineralogy) · uk розщепи́ти (transitive to split or sever) · es hender (transitive to split or sever) · gl tallar (transitive to split or sever) · ru расколо́ть (transitive figurative) · pt talhar (transitive to split or sever) · ru раска́лывать (transitive to split or sever) · de spalten (transitive to split or sever) · hu hasít (transitive to split or sever) · sv klyva (transitive chemistry) · ka გაკვეთა (transitive to split or sever) · mi kari (transitive to split or sever) · be раско́лваць (transitive to split or sever) · pt partir (transitive to split or sever) · cs rozetnout (intransitive to split) · ar صَدَعَ (transitive to split or sever) · fi lohjeta (intransitive mineralogy) · el σκίζω (transitive to split or sever) · fi halkoa (transitive to split or sever) · sa भिनत्ति (transitive to split or sever) · fr fendre (transitive to split or sever) · nl klieven (transitive to split or sever) · it spaccare (intransitive to split) · bg разцепвам (transitive to split or sever) · ota یارمق (transitive to split or sever) · be кало́ць (transitive to split or sever) · it tagliare (intransitive mineralogy) · cs rozetnout (transitive to split or sever) · fi haljeta (intransitive to split) · nl splitsen (intransitive to split) · tr yarmak (transitive to split or sever) · it scindere (transitive chemistry) · uk розко́лювати (transitive to split or sever) · oc asclar (transitive to split or sever) · ban belah (transitive to split or sever) · oc clivar (intransitive mineralogy) · ru разреза́ть (transitive to split or sever) · fr cliver (transitive to split or sever) · mi wehe (transitive to split or sever) · fr cliver (transitive figurative) · sm tofi (transitive to split or sever) · mi mākahi (transitive to split or sever) · it ritagliarsi (transitive figurative) · haw kōhi (transitive to split or sever) · gl fender (transitive to split or sever) · ru расщепи́ть (transitive to split or sever) · sv splittras (intransitive to split) · ar شَقَّ (transitive to split or sever) · it fendere (transitive to split or sever) · egy z:n-z:n-T30 (transitive to split or sever) · sv klyva sig (intransitive to split) · ms belah (transitive to split or sever) · ty tohi (transitive to split or sever) · sv klyva (transitive to split or sever) · mi tohi (transitive to split or sever) · oc talhar (transitive mineralogy) · mi matakahi (transitive to split or sever) · uk коло́ти (transitive to split or sever) · ru рассека́ть (transitive to split or sever) · fi halkoa (transitive figurative) · no kløyve (transitive to split or sever) · sa तृन्त्ते (transitive to split or sever) · ru расколо́ть (transitive to split or sever) · cs proříznout (transitive to split or sever) · oc fendasclar (transitive to split or sever) · is kljúfa (transitive to split or sever) · ja 割る (transitive to split or sever) · da kløve (transitive to split or sever) · bg цепя (transitive to split or sever) · oc fendre (intransitive to split) · ko 쪼개다 (transitive to split or sever) · fr cliver (transitive mineralogy) · ru расщепля́ть (transitive to split or sever) · gl tronzar (transitive to split or sever) · fa شقه کردن (transitive to split or sever) · oc talhar (intransitive mineralogy) · fr fendre (intransitive to split) · ka გაჭრა (transitive to split or sever) · gl partir (transitive to split or sever) · ru раска́лывать (intransitive to split) · fi halkaista (transitive to split or sever) · cs rozříznout (transitive to split or sever) · fi lohkaista (transitive chemistry) · oc fendre (transitive to split or sever) · bg разцепвам (transitive mineralogy) · es tallar (transitive mineralogy) · uk розще́плювати (transitive to split or sever) · ang clēofan (transitive to split or sever) · bg цепя се (intransitive to split) · ban tebih (transitive to split or sever) · cmn 劈開 /劈开 (transitive to split or sever) · oc clivar (transitive mineralogy) · ru расколо́ть (intransitive to split) · ar شَرَمَ (transitive to split or sever) · es escindir (transitive chemistry) · bg разцепвам (transitive chemistry) · sk rozrezať (transitive to split or sever) · fr cliver (transitive chemistry) · fi lohjeta (intransitive to split) · oc fendasclar (intransitive to split) · ru раска́лывать (transitive figurative) · ar فَلَقَ (transitive to split or sever) · mi tīwara (transitive to split or sever) · oc trencar (transitive to split or sever) · oc clivar (transitive chemistry) · gl tronzar (transitive figurative) · sk rozsekať (transitive to split or sever) · sk prerezať (transitive to split or sever) · ru рассе́чь (transitive to split or sever) · fr tailler (transitive mineralogy) · ar فَسَخَ (transitive to split or sever) · ru разре́зать (transitive to split or sever) · ru коло́ть (transitive to split or sever) · ka გაპობა (transitive to split or sever) · sv klyvas (intransitive to split) · is láta klofna (transitive to split or sever) · oc clivar (transitive figurative) · ro despica (transitive to split or sever) · be расшчапля́ць (transitive to split or sever)
From Middle English cleven, a conflation of two verbs: Old English clifian (from Proto-West Germanic *klibēn, from Proto-Germanic *klibāną) and Old English clīfan (from Proto-West Germanic *klīban, from Proto-Germanic *klībaną), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gleybʰ- (“to stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleven, German kleben (“to stick”).
Meanings
(intransitive, rare) Followed by to or unto: to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something.
In fact everyone is obligated, to this loving cleaving to God as necessary for salvation, in the form of observing the commandments and conforming to the divine will,[…] 2019 December 7, St. Albertus Magnus, On Cleaving to God, Dalcassian Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 5:
And they lift vp their voyce, and wept againe: and Orpah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth claue vnto her. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ruth 1:14:
Neuerthelesse, hee cleaued vnto the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat, which made Israel to sinne; he departed not therefrom. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 3:3:
He was in such a rage that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. He could not even swear. He could only splutter. 1881, Walter Besant, James Rice, “How Will Would Not Be Crossed”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume III, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, part II (The Queen of the Wells), pages 163–164:
"I only know that I love thee as I never loved before, and that I will cleave to thee to the end." 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
To the body and to the raiment, burning them;
As after death I know that such-like flame
Shall cleave to me for ever; yea, what care,
Albeit I burn then, having felt the same? 1862-1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Laus Veneris:
Yet not as therefore cruell things ſhould cleave / To gentle; not that vve ſhould Serpents ſee / VVith Doves; or Lambs vvith Tigres coupled be. a. 1638 (date written), Quintus Horatius Flaccus [i.e., Horace], translated by Ben Jonson, Q. Horatius Flaccus: His Art of Poetry. […], London: […] J[ohn] Okes, for John Benson […], published 1640, →OCLC, page 2, lines 14–16:
Forms
Spelling
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Labels
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cleaves
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
lexicographic
cleaving
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
cleaved
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
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cleaved
Tense=Past
lexicographic
Translations (9)
ota یاپشمق (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · la haereo (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · es adherirse (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · bg оставам верен на (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · de kleben (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · ba йәбешеү (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · ru клеиться (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · da klæbe (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something) · es aferrarse (to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something)