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cloverleaf

[kloh-ver-leef]
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noun, plural clo·ver·leafs, clo·ver·leaves.
  1. 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.
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adjective
  1. shaped like or resembling a leaf or leaves of clover.
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Origin of cloverleaf

First recorded in 1930–35; clover + leaf
Related formsclo·ver·leafed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

crossinginterchangejunctionintersectionedgerimoverpasscrossroadbridgepassagecirclestopcrosswaycloverleafcrosswalkforkridgeprojectionveercrook

Examples from the Web for cloverleaf

Historical Examples

  • He entered the cloverleaf and was halfway through it when he saw the copter.

    Rebels of the Red Planet

    Charles Louis Fontenay

  • The clubs of playing-cards are also no doubt an imitation of the cloverleaf.

  • Immediately, he put the groundcar in drive and whipped out of the cloverleaf under full acceleration.

    Rebels of the Red Planet

    Charles Louis Fontenay

  • Dark slowed and entered the cloverleaf that took him onto the bypass expressway.

    Rebels of the Red Planet

    Charles Louis Fontenay

  • Every cloverleaf sparkled and the leaves of wheat bristled like tiny spears.

    Hiram The Young Farmer

    Burbank L. Todd

British Dictionary definitions for cloverleaf

cloverleaf

noun plural -leaves
  1. an arrangement of connecting roads, resembling a four-leaf clover in form, that joins two intersecting main roads
  2. (modifier) in the shape or pattern of a leaf of clover
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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

Word Origin and History for cloverleaf

n.

1882, from clover + leaf (n.). Highway interchange sense attested by 1933.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper