cloverleaf

[ kloh-ver-leef ]

/ ˈkloʊ vərˌlif /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cloverleaf ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural clo·ver·leafs, clo·ver·leaves.

a road arrangement, resembling a four-leaf clover in form, for permitting easy traffic movement between two intersecting high-speed highways. One highway passes over the other, and both are joined by a system of curved feeder roads permitting vehicles to enter and leave the highways.

adjective

shaped like or resembling a leaf or leaves of clover.

Nearby words

clovelly, cloven, cloven hoof, cloven-hoofed, clover, cloverleaf, cloverleaf aerial, clovis, clovis i, clovis point, clowder

Origin of cloverleaf

First recorded in 1930–35; clover + leaf

Related forms

clo·ver·leafed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cloverleaf

Every cloverleaf sparkled and the leaves of wheat bristled like tiny spears.
Hiram The Young Farmer|Burbank L. Todd
Dark slowed and entered the cloverleaf that took him onto the bypass expressway.
Rebels of the Red Planet|Charles Louis Fontenay
The clubs of playing-cards are also no doubt an imitation of the cloverleaf.
Flowers of Mountain and Plain|Edith S. Clements
He entered the cloverleaf and was halfway through it when he saw the copter.
Rebels of the Red Planet|Charles Louis Fontenay

Immediately, he put the groundcar in drive and whipped out of the cloverleaf under full acceleration.
Rebels of the Red Planet|Charles Louis Fontenay

British Dictionary definitions for cloverleaf

cloverleaf

/ (ˈkləʊvəˌliːf) /

noun plural -leaves

an arrangement of connecting roads, resembling a four-leaf clover in form, that joins two intersecting main roads

(modifier) in the shape or pattern of a leaf of clover

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