cleaver

American  

[klee-ver] / ˈkli vər /

noun

1. a heavy, broad-bladed knife or long-bladed hatchet, especially one used by butchers for cutting meat into joints or pieces.

2. a person or thing that cleaves.

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cleaver British  

/ ˈkliːvə /

noun

1. a heavy knife or long-bladed hatchet, esp one used by butchers

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cleaver Scientific  

/ klē′vər /

1. A bifacial stone tool flaked to produce a straight, sharp, relatively wide edge at one end. Cleavers are early core tools associated primarily with the Acheulian tool culture.

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Etymology

Origin of cleaver

First recorded in 1325–75, cleaver is from the Middle English word clevere. See cleave ², -er ¹

Explanation

A cleaver is a large knife, used mainly by butchers. The blade of a cleaver is big and square. To cut a steak, you need a good, sharp knife. To cut larger parts of meat, you need something even more powerful: a cleaver (or chopper). Cleavers have fat, square blades and are used for cutting large hunks of meat. It can help you remember the meaning of this word if you know that to cleave is to separate. If you're not a butcher, you probably have no use for a cleaver (unless you're a villain in a horror movie).

Example Sentences

In the especially nasty autumn of 1954, women in June Cleaver dresses and gas masks protested outside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

By shooting down four MiG-15s in a single fight, “Royce Williams had accomplished what no other American fighter pilot would ever accomplish,” Thomas McKelvey Cleaver wrote in a history of the Korean naval air campaign.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

“The best way to do it was to just pick up the phone and call one of the governors,” Cleaver said.

From Salon • Sep. 12, 2025

“It was just Ward and June Cleaver doing the right thing time after time. You just feel blessed and as good as you can feel to have parents like Jack and Jackie Harbaugh.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2025

“Tm thinking of going to Spain, ” Eddie told Mrs. Cleaver.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner