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cleave
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

cleave as in:  cleave through

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    It has the ability to cleave carbon-carbon bonds.
  • •
    The water is going to cleave a channel into the rock
    cleave = cut
  • •
    But she couldn't cleave him from alcoholism or his murderous obsession.  (source)
    cleave = split
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Show 10 more with 10 word variations
  • •
    Two nights ago, it killed a youngster he knew, a tall, skinny migrant with a cleft upper lip.†  (source)
    cleft = a split or crack in something
    "Editor's Notes"
    Cleft is the past tense of cleave like left is past tense of leave.

    Today, cleft is most seen in the form cleft palate or cleft lip to refer to medical conditions at birth.
  • •
    His neck and wrists were as thick as a wrestler's and his close-cropped hair revealed a scar above the left ear, which was presumably the result of a glancing blow that had hoped to cleave his skull.  (source)
    cleave = split
  • •
    It was the witch who put Ariel in the cloven pine, wasn't it?  (source)
  • •
    And herself, swimming in easy practised strokes after him cleaving her way through the water but knowing, only too surely, that she wouldn't be in time…  (source)
    cleaving = cutting
  • •
    Pushing myself, continually out of breath, I scurried up and to the left, across small snowfields linked by ice-choked clefts and short rock steps.  (source)
    clefts = splits or cracks
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    When Achilles puts on his helmet and cleaves his red path through the field, the hearts of common men swell in their chests.  (source)
    cleaves = cuts
  • •
    The keen edge cleaved through the tough skin.  (source)
    cleaved = cut through
  • •
    The sword cleaveth the helmet; The strong armour is pierced by the lance; Fire devoureth the dwelling of princes, Engines break down the fences of the battle.†  (source)
    cleaveth = splits or cuts through
    standard suffix: Today, the suffix "-th" is replaced by "-s", so that where they said "She cleaveth" in older English, today we say "She cleaves."
  • •
    If, for an extreme example, cleft palates showed up in every litter—meaning pups that had to be put down—you knew that the sire carried a propensity toward cleft palate.  (source)
    cleft palate = an opening or split in the roof of the mouth (a medical condition at birth)
  • •
    Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter.  (source)
    cleft lip = an opening or split in the upper lip (a medical condition at birth)
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cleave as in:  cleave to

•
The New Testament quotes the Old Testament twice in saying, "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to this wife, and they become one flesh."
cleaves = holds firmly
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    She was taught that she must cleave to God.
    cleave = hold firmly
  • •
    "One time I asked her to have a chew and she said no thanks, that—chewing gum cleaved to her palate and rendered her speechless," said Jem carefully.  (source)
    cleaved = stuck (held tightly)
  • •
    Beware, Goody Proctor—cleave to no faith when faith brings blood.  (source)
    cleave = hold firmly
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Show 10 more with 3 word variations
  • •
    If there are more, the Bold Wind will cleave to the Seaswift to protect her while the rest of the fleet does battle.  (source)
    cleave = hold (stay with)
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    The girl had retreated to the image of her parent and there found protection—like the unsuccessful husband whose dream of mother love preserved him from the state of cleaving to a wife.  (source)
    cleaving = holding firmly
  • •
    He refused to wear soft hats; cleaved to a hard derby, as a symbol of virility and prosperity; and sometimes he forgot to take it off in the house.  (source)
    cleaved = stuck (held tightly)
  • •
    Shadowhunters cleave to no single religion, and in turn all religions assist us in our battle.  (source)
    cleave = hold firmly
  • •
    His dense, smoldering eyes traveled from face to face, brushed David's who jerked his head away in panic, traveled on and returned, cleaving there.  (source)
    cleaving = holding firmly
  • •
    He felt his tongue cleave to his mouth, and his heart labouring.  (source)
    cleave = hold firmly
  • •
    The church was their society and their standard; they went to Sunday service, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor, missionary lectures, church suppers, precisely as they had at home; they agreed that ambassadors and flippant newspapermen and infidel scientists of the bureaus were equally wicked and to be avoided; and by cleaving to Tincomb Church they kept their ideals from all contamination.  (source)
    cleaving = holding firmly
  • •
    In the United States there is even a pathos of inverted emphasis: the goal is not to grow old, but to remain young; not to mature away from Mother, but to cleave to her.  (source)
    cleave = hold firmly
  • •
    We must cleave to them like mire on a Pig!  (source)
  • •
    But she found a Washington which did not cleave to Main Street.  (source)
    cleave = hold (to the values of)
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rare meaning

Show 3 with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Clove is scrambling backward on all fours, like a frantic insect, too shocked to even call for Cato.  (source)
    Clove = a name
  • •
    Roy's fingers trembled as he undid the precisely tied clove-hitch knots.  (source)
    clove = a type of knot
  • •
    I saw a clove of garlic inside, and I added it to my inventory.  (source)
    clove = lobe
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Show 10 more with 3 word variations
  • •
    The Clave laid this curse on me because I aided Valentine.  (source)
    Clave = a political body in this novel
  • •
    "Oh, don't," she wailed every time Fred asked Harry loudly who he was planning to attack next, or when George pretended to ward Harry off with a large clove of garlic when they met.  (source)
    clove = a dried flower bud or section of a garlic plant
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    I swear there are not two more ignorant, cloven-footed blockheads in the land.  (source)
    cloven = a hoof split in 2 parts
  • •
    "Con clave" literally meant "locked with a key."†  (source)
  • •
    It's more like root beer with a hint of clove.†  (source)
    clove = a dried flower bud or section of a garlic plant
  • •
    Mr. and Mrs. Tozer said they were all to be calm, and of course Bert didn't mean— But really, it was true; they had to be sensible, and how Mr. Arrowsmith could expect to support a wife— The conference lasted till nine-thirty, which, as Mr. Tozer pointed out, was everybody's bedtime, and except for the five-minute discussion as to whether Miss Ada Quist was to stay to supper, and the debate on the saltiness of this last cornbeef, they clave faithfully to the inquiry as to whether Martin and Leora were engaged.†  (source)
  • •
    Then take it off the heat, let it stand, and skim off the foam; next add another little bit of water as well as a chunk of orange peel, anise, or clove to taste and bring to a boil.†  (source)
  • •
    Sir Launcelot put his shield afore him, and put the stroke away of the one giant, and with his sword he clave his head asunder.†  (source)
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    When Miss Dickinson says, "Hope is the thing with feathers," I always think of something round—a ball from one of the games I will never play—stuck all around like a clove-orange sachet with red feathers.†  (source)
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    He struggled against his thirst till his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth; then, no longer able to resist, he called out.†  (source)
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