Cleave
WordNet
verb
(1) Come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
"The dress clings to her body"
"The label stuck to the box"
"The sushi rice grains cohere"
(2) Separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
"Cleave the bone"
(3) Make by cutting into
"The water is going to cleave a channel into the rock"
WiktionaryText
Etymology 1
From the strong Old English verb , from , from Proto-Indo-European root . Cognates include dialectal German klieben.
Verb
- To split or sever something or as if with a sharp instrument.
- 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.
- To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
- To pierce or penetrate.
- The wings cleaved the foggy air.
- To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
- Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
Noun
- Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
Etymology 2
From Old English cleofian, from West Germanic , from Proto-Indo-European root . Cognates include German kleben (ankleben, bekleben).
Verb
- To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.
- To be faithful.
- To cleave to one’s principles.
Quotations
, Genesis, 2:24-
- Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.