Lexic.us

Definition of Cleave

1. Verb. Separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument. "The girls cleave the wooden sticks"; "Cleave the bone"

2. Verb. Make by cutting into. "The water is going to cleave a channel into the rock"

3. Verb. Come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation. "The sushi rice grains cohere"

Definition of Cleave

1. v. i. To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast; to cling.

2. v. t. To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to cut.

3. v. i. To part; to open; to crack; to separate; as parts of bodies; as, the ground cleaves by frost.

Definition of Cleave

1. Verb. (transitive) To split or sever something or as if with a sharp instrument. ¹

2. Verb. (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. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive chemistry) To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules. ¹

5. Verb. (intransitive) To split. ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive mineralogy) Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division. ¹

7. Noun. (technology) Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass. ¹

8. Verb. (intransitive) To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto. ¹

9. Verb. (intransitive) To be faithful. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Cleave

1. to split or divide [v CLEAVED, CLEFT, CLOVE or CLAVE, CLOVEN, CLEAVING, CLEAVES]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Cleave

cleated cleating cleats cleavable cleavage cleavage cavity cleavage cell cleavage division cleavage furrows cleavage lines

cleavage product cleavage site cleavage spindle cleavages cleave (current term) cleaved cleaved cell cleavelandite cleavelandites cleaver

cleavers cleaves cleaveth cleaving cleche clechy cleck clecked clecking

Literary usage of Cleave

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Notes and Queries by Martim de Albuquerque (1862)
"So we say cleave, clave, and cleaved. Here the older verbs seem to be mostly ... But, though cleave in its two different meanings is both spelled and ..."

2. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1860)
"pose to try their love, whether they will cleave to him to the end. And as for the ill end thou sayest they come to, that is most glorious in their account; ..."

3. The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament by George V. Wigram (1866)
"But cleave unto the Lord Ru. 2: 8. abide here fast by my maidens: 21. ... Naaman shall cleave unto thee, 18: 6.For he clave to the Lord, Ps. 101: 3. shall ..."

4. Sonnets of this Century by William Sharp (1886)
"cleave THOU THE WAVES. cleave thou the waves that weltering to and fro Surge multitudinous. The eternal Powers Of sun, moon, stars, the air, the hurrying ..."

Other Resources: