cleave

  • 11cleave — [v1] divide, split carve, chop, crack, cut, dissect, dissever, disunite, divorce, hack, hew, open, part, pierce, rend, rip, rive, separate, sever, slice, stab, sunder, tear asunder, whack; concepts 98,137,176 Ant. join, meld, unite cleave [v2]… …

    New thesaurus

  • 12cleave — index bifurcate, break (separate), cohere (adhere), detach, disjoint, divide (separate) …

    Law dictionary

  • 13cleave — klēv vt, cleaved; cleav·ing to subject to chemical cleavage <a protein cleaved by an enzyme> …

    Medical dictionary

  • 14cleave — There are two words, both from Old English, with this spelling. One is a mostly literary word for ‘cut’, and has inflected forms (past) cleaved, clove, or cleft, and (past participle) cleaved or cloven. The adjective is cloven in cloven footed… …

    Modern English usage

  • 15cleave — cleave1 [klēv] vt. cleaved or cleft or clove, cleaved or cleft or cloven, cleaving [ME cleven < OE cleofan; akin to Ger klieben < IE base * gleubh , to cut, slice > Gr glyphein, carve, L glubere, to peel] 1. to divide by a blow, as with… …

    English World dictionary

  • 16cleave — {{11}}cleave (1) to split, O.E. cleofan to split, separate (class II strong verb, past tense cleaf, past participle clofen), from P.Gmc. *kleubanan (Cf. O.S. klioban, O.N. kljufa, Dan. klöve, Du. kloven, O.H.G. klioban, Ger. klieben to cleave …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 17cleave to — (poetic/literary) 1 her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth: STICK (FAST) TO, adhere to, be attached to. 2 cleaving too closely to Moscow s line: ADHERE TO, hold to, abide by, be loyal/faithful to. → cleave * * * cleave to [phrasal verb …

    Useful english dictionary

  • 18cleave — v. (formal) (d; intr.) ( to cling ) to cleave to (to cleave to old customs) * * * [kliːv] (formal) (d; intr.) ( to cling ) to cleave to (to cleave to old customs) …

    Combinatory dictionary

  • 19cleave — [OE] There are two distinct verbs cleave in English, both of Germanic origin. Cleave ‘cut’ comes from Germanic *kleuban, which goes back to an Indo European base *gleubh (this also produced Greek glúphein ‘carve’, source of English hieroglyphics) …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • 20cleave — I [[t]kliv[/t]] v. i. cleaved (Archaic)clave; cleaved; cleav•ing. 1) to adhere closely; cling (usu. fol. by to) 2) to remain faithful: to cleave to one s principles[/ex] • Etymology: bef. 900; MEcleven, OE cleofian, c. OSclibon, OHG klebēn… …

    From formal English to slang

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