cleave
English
WOTD – 12 February 2015
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /kliːv/
- (US) IPA(key): /kliv/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -iːv
Etymology 1
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”).
Verb
cleave (third-person singular simple present cleaves, present participle cleaving, simple past cleft or clove or (UK) cleaved or (archaic) clave, past participle cleft or cloven or (UK) cleaved)
- (transitive) To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
- The wings cleaved the foggy air.
- 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 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:
- O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 78:15:
- Hee claue the rockes in the wildernes: and gaue them drinke as out of the great depthes.
- (transitive, mineralogy) 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 cleaved a path through the ice.
- (transitive, chemistry) To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
- (intransitive) To split.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Numbers 16:31:
- 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:
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- (intransitive, mineralogy) Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
Related terms
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *glewbʰ- (0 c, 9 e)
Translations
transitive to split or sever
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transitive mineralogy
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transitive figurative
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transitive chemistry
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intransitive to split
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intransitive mineralogy
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
cleave (plural cleaves)
- (technology) Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
Related terms
- cleavage
- cleft
Derived terms
- cleaver
Etymology 2
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”).
Verb
cleave (third-person singular simple present cleaves, present participle cleaving, simple past and past participle cleaved)
- (intransitive, rare) Followed by to or unto: to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Ruth 1:14:
- 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 964384981, 2 Kings 3:3:
- Neuerthelesse, hee cleaued vnto the sinnes of Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat, which made Israel to sinne; he departed not therefrom.
- a. 1638 (date written), Quintus Horatius Flaccus [i.e., Horace], Ben Jonson, transl., Q. Horatius Flaccus: His Art of Poetry. […], London: […] J[ohn] Okes, for John Benson […], published 1640, OCLC 1203251361, lines 14–16, page 2:
- Yet not as therefore cruell things ſhould cleave / To gentle; not that vve ſhould Serpents ſee / VVith Doves; or Lambs vvith Tigres coupled be.
- 1881, Walter Besant; James Rice, “How Will Would Not Be Crossed”, in The Chaplain of the Fleet […], volume III, London: Chatto and Windus, […], OCLC 21021742, part II (The Queen of the Wells), pages 163–164:
- 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.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:
- "I only know that I love thee as I never loved before, and that I will cleave to thee to the end."
- 2019 December 7, St. Albertus Magnus, On Cleaving to God, Dalcassian Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 5:
- 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, […]
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Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:adhere
Translations
to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something
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References
- cleave in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- cleave in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913