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Webster 1913 Edition

Clove

Clove

,
imp.
of
Cleave
.
Cleft.
Spenser.
Clove hitch
(Naut.)
See under
Hitch
.
–
Clove hook
(Naut.)
,
an iron two-part hook, with jaws overlapping, used in bending chain sheets to the clews of sails; – called also
clip hook
.
Knight.

Clove

,
Noun.
[D.
kloof
. See
Cleave
,
Verb.
T.
]
A cleft; a gap; a ravine; – rarely used except as part of a proper name;
as, Kaaterskill
Clove
; Stone
Clove
.

Clove

,
Noun.
[OE.
clow
, fr. F.
clou
nail,
clou de girofle
a clove, lit. nail of clove, fr. L.
clavus
nail, perh. akin to
clavis
key, E.
clavicle
. The clove was so called from its resemblance to a nail. So in D.
kruidnagel
clove, lit.
herb-nail
or
spice-nail
. Cf.
Cloy
.]
A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree (
Eugenia aromatica
syn.
Caryophullus aromatica
), a native of the Molucca Isles.
Clove camphor
.
(Chem.)
See
Eugenin
.
–
Clove gillyflower
,
Clove pink
(Bot.)
,
any fragrant self-colored carnation.

Clove

,
Noun.
[AS.
clufe
an ear of corn, a clove of garlic; cf.
cleófan
to split, E.
cleave
.]
1.
(Bot.)
One of the small bulbs developed in the axils of the scales of a large bulb, as in the case of garlic.
Developing, in the axils of its skales, new bulbs, of what gardeners call
cloves
.
Lindley.
2.
A weight. A clove of cheese is about eight pounds, of wool, about seven pounds.
[Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.

Webster 1828 Edition

Clove

CLOVE

, pret. of cleave.

CLOVE

,
Noun.
[See Cleave.] A cleft; a fissure; a gap; a ravine. This word, though properly an appellative, is not often used as such in English; bu it is appropriated to particular places, that are real clefts, or which appear as such; as the Clove of Kaaterskill, in the state of New York, and the Stony Clove. It is properly a Dutch word.

CLOVE

, n.
1.
A very pungent aromatic spice, the flower of the clove-tree, Caryophyllus, a native of the Molucca isles. The tree grows to the size of the laurel, and its bark resembles that of the olive. No verdure is seen under it. At the extremities of its branches are produced vast numbers of flowers, which are at first white, then green, and at last red and hard. These are called cloves.
2.
[from cleave.] The parts into which garlic separates, when the outer skin is removed.
3.
A certain weight; seven pounds of wool; eight pounds of cheese or butter.

Definition 2024

clove

clove

English

Cloves (1).

Noun

clove ‎(countable and uncountable, plural cloves)

  1. (uncountable, countable) A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
  2. (countable) A clove tree, of the species Syzygium aromaticum (syn. Caryophyllus aromatica), native to the Moluccas (Indonesian islands), which produces the spice.
  3. (countable) An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.
    • 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge p. 202.
      Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod 6 1/2 tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. The 'Pathway' points out the etymology of the word cloves; it calls them ' claves or nails.' It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.
    • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, p. 169:
      By a statute of 9 Hen. VI. it was ordained that the wey of cheese should contain 32 cloves of 7 lbs. each, i.e. 224 lbs., or 2 cwts.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old English clufu, cognate with cleofan ‎(“to split”), hence with the verbal etymology hereafter

Noun

clove ‎(plural cloves)

  1. Any one of the separate bulbs that make up the larger bulb of garlic
Translations

Etymology 3

Verb

clove

  1. simple past tense of cleave
Related terms

Etymology 4

Borrowing from Dutch kloof.

Noun

clove ‎(plural cloves)

  1. (geography) A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch

Usage notes

Etymology

An alteration of Middle English clowe, from the first component of Old French clou de girofle, from Latin clāvus ‎(“nail”) for its shape. Also see clāva ‎(“knotty branch, club”).

Pronunciation

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