cleve

English

Etymology

From Middle English cleve, from Old English clēofa, clēafa (“that which is cloven, a cleft, chasm, cave, den, lair, cell, chamber, cellar, apartment”), from Proto-Germanic *klebô (“chamber, cell”), from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, cleave, split, divide”). Cognate with Old Norse klefi (“a closet, sleeping closet, bedroom”) (whence Icelandic klefi (“cell, compartment”)). Related to cleave.

Noun

cleve (plural cleves)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal) A room; chamber.
  2. (now chiefly dialectal) A cottage.
  3. (obsolete) A cliff or hillside.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.