cleavers
Americannoun
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cleavers
plural
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a North American plant, Galium aparine, of the madder family, having short, hooked bristles on the stems and leaves and bearing very small white flowers.
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any of certain related species.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cleavers
before 1000; Middle English clivre, Old English clife burdock ( -re probably by association with Middle English clivres (plural) claws, or with the agent noun from cleven to cleave 1, whence the modern spelling)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then comes the sound, clams tossed in hot pans, cleavers pounding roast pork, a Cantonese rock ballad barely rising above the crowd.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
During the last amnesty in 2006, people handed over more than 12,500 blades to police without facing criminal charges - they included machetes, swords, meat cleavers, bayonets and axes.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
Her mother, Ann, gave her honeysuckle flowers to suck on hot days and often added pineapple weed to lemonade or cleavers and violets to tea.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 6, 2023
Like sitcom employees, the Clyde’s cooks complain about how busy they are, and they look busy, smacking cleavers through heads of lettuce, slapping turkey slices onto waxed paper, and lavishly squeezing sauces all over them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2022
But he went to work with two cleavers chopping the onion up into the meat.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
