CLEAVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Cleave

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verb

Cleave v. t. (past clove; past part. cloven or cleaved; pres. part. cleaving)

To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to cut. "O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain."

To part or open naturally; to divide. "Every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws."

Cleave v. i. (past clove; past part. cloven or cleaved; pres. part. cleaving)

To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast; to cling. "My bones cleave to my skin." "The diseases of Egypt... shall cleave unto thee." "Sophistry cleaves close to and protects Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects."

To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife." "Cleave unto the Lord your God."

To fit; to be adapted; to assimilate. (Poetic.) "New honors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold But with the aid of use."

Cleave v. i. (past clove; past part. cloven or cleaved; pres. part. cleaving) To part; to open; to crack; to separate; as parts of bodies; as, the ground cleaves by frost. "The Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst."

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Etymology of 'Cleave'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cleave" Quotes from Famous Books

... tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth; he felt as if his spine were giving way, as if all his strength of mind and body ...

— The Woman's Way • Charles Garvice

... If you shall cleave to my consent, Then 'tis,/It shall make honour for you] Macbeth expressed his thought with affected obscurity; he does not mention the royalty, though he apparently has it in his mind, If you shall cleave to my consent, if you shall concur with me ...

— Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies • Samuel Johnson

... glorious temple, where abstract, And long a stranger to the vulgar eye, Thought held her silent rule, and mission'd forth Her sealed and unquestion'd messengers. Yet those who follow nature when the track Is finer than a hair—those who can cleave The subtile and combined elements That form a drop of water—those can shrink From the more holy alchemy enjoin'd, Call'd for by that disgust the heart conceives At the usurping empire of pretence; At all those useless and ...

— Vignettes in Verse • Matilda Betham

... nor happiness for whoso doubts. He that, being self-contained, hath vanquished doubt, Disparting self from service, soul from works, Enlightened and emancipate, my Prince! Works fetter him no more! Cut then atwain With sword of wisdom, Son of Bharata! This doubt that binds thy heart-beats! cleave the bond Born of thy ignorance! Be bold and wise! Give thyself to the field with ...

— The Bhagavad-Gita • Sir Edwin Arnold

... she gave him a look, in which was embodied all she wished to convey, its meaning was instantly and rightly interpreted by our hero. If we were called upon to describe in words the tumultuous ragings of those elements that cleave the very mountains, lay prostrate the gigantic denizens of the forest, and make the earth tremble with the power of their agitation; if we were required to depict the falling avalanche, that sweeps in its course all vestiges of vitality from the ...

— Fern Vale (Volume 1) - or the Queensland Squatter • Colin Munro

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