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Synonyms

clave

1 American  
[kleyv] / kleɪv /

verb

Archaic.

  1. simple past tense of cleave.

clave 2 American  
[klah-vey] / ˈklɑ veɪ /

noun

  1. one of a pair of wooden sticks or blocks that are held one in each hand and are struck together to accompany music and dancing.

clave 1 British  
/ kleɪv, klɑːv /

noun

  1. music one of a pair of hardwood sticks struck together to make a hollow sound, esp to mark the beat of Latin-American dance music

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
clave 2 British  
/ kleɪv /

verb

  1. archaic a past tense of cleave 1

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
clave 3 British  
/ kleɪv /

noun

  1. zoology a clublike thickening at the upper end of an organ, esp of the antenna of an insect

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of clave

First recorded in 1925–30; Latin American Spanish, Spanish: “keystone,” from Latin clāvis “key”

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.