cloven
- a past participle of cleave2
- cleft; split; divided: Goats have cloven hoofs.
cleave1
- to adhere closely; stick; cling (usually followed by to).
- to remain faithful (usually followed by to): to cleave to one's principles in spite of persecution.
Origin of cleave1
cleave2
- to split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, especially along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood.
- to make by or as if by cutting: to cleave a path through the wilderness.
- to penetrate or pass through (air, water, etc.): The bow of the boat cleaved the water cleanly.
- to cut off; sever: to cleave a branch from a tree.
- to part or split, especially along a natural line of division.
- to penetrate or advance by or as if by cutting (usually followed by through).
Origin of cleave2
Synonyms
See more synonyms for cleave on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for cloven
Historical Examples
Those cataracts of cloven earth; they were done by the grace of God.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
Yet let us enjoy the cloven flame whilst it glows on our walls.
Essays, First SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
The cloven hoof of the Socialist peeps out from a little group.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
I was almost happy; the cloven hoof had peeped so damningly out.
RomanceJoseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer
The stride was about eight feet, the marks as of the cloven hoofs of an ox.
A Labrador DoctorWilfred Thomason Grenfell
cloven
- a past participle of cleave 1
- split; cleft; divided
cleave1
- to split or cause to split, esp along a natural weakness
- (tr) to make by or as if by cuttingto cleave a path
- (when intr, foll by through) to penetrate or traverse
Word Origin
cleave2
- (intr foll by to) to cling or adhere
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for cloven
adj.
"divided, split," Old English clofen, past participle adjective from cleave (v.1).
cleave
v.1
"to split," Old English cleofan, cleven, cliven "to split, separate" (class II strong verb, past tense cleaf, past participle clofen), from Proto-Germanic *kleubanan (cf. Old Saxon klioban, Old Norse kljufa, Danish klöve, Dutch kloven, Old High German klioban, German klieben "to cleave, split"), from PIE root *gleubh- "to cut, slice" (see glyph).
Past tense form clave is recorded in Northern writers from 14c. and was used with both verbs (see cleave (v.2)), apparently by analogy with other Middle English strong verbs. Clave was common to c.1600 and still alive at the time of the KJV; weak past tense cleaved for this verb also emerged in 14c.; cleft is still later. The past participle cloven survives, though mostly in compounds.
cleave
v.2
"to adhere," Middle English cleven, clevien, cliven, from Old English clifian, cleofian, from West Germanic *klibajanan (cf. Old Saxon klibon, Old High German kliban, Dutch kleven, Old High German kleben, German kleben "to stick, cling, adhere"), from PIE *gloi- "to stick" (see clay). The confusion was less in Old English when cleave (v.1) was a class 2 strong verb; but it has grown since cleave (v.1) weakened, which may be why both are largely superseded by stick (v.) and split (v.).