All 4 Uses of
cleave
in
The Mill on the Floss
- Don't look away from me to that cloven tree; it is a bad omen.†
Chpt 5.4cloven = split (or divided in two)
- Chapter V The Cloven Tree Secrets are rarely betrayed or discovered according to any programme our fear has sketched out.†
Chpt 5.5 *
- Beware thou cleavest not unto them, lest thou be entangled and perish....If a man should give all his substance, yet it is as nothing.†
Chpt 4.3cleavest = cut or split in twostandard suffix: Today, the suffix "-st" is dropped, so that where they said "Thou cleavest" in older English, today we say "You cleave."
- I was sure that you meant to cleave to me, as you had said; that you had rejected him; that you struggled to renounce him, for Lucy's sake and for mine.†
Chpt 7.3
Definitions:
-
(1)
(cleave as in: cleave through) to split or cut through somethingIronically, this word can mean to split in two or to hold together.
Note that you may see cleaved, cleft, clove, or cloven as the past tense of this sense of cleave. -
(2)
(cleave as in: cleave to) to hold firmly to something -- such as an object, a person or ideaIronically, this word can mean to split in two or to hold together.
Note that you may see cleaved, clove, or clave as the past tense of this sense of cleave. -
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
a proper noun or other word too rare to warrant focus