cliver

See also: Cliver

English

Adjective

cliver

1. (obsolete or dialectal) clever
   • 1918, Harold Bindloss, The Buccaneer Farmer‎^[1]:

     There's ways a cliver agent can run up a reckoning, and when you want Mireside I'll have to gan." "

   • 1893, Robert Michael Ballantyne, The World of Ice‎^[2]:

     "Ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it."

   • 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner‎^[3]:

     For I've often a deal inside me as'll never come out; and for what you talk o' your folks in your old country niver saying prayers by heart nor saying 'em out of a book, they must be wonderful cliver; for if I didn't know "Our Father", and little bits o' good words as I can carry out o' church wi' me, I might down o' my knees every night, but nothing could I say."

   • 1831, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram, Complete‎^[4]:

     Oh, they be cliver creturs, and they'll do what they likes with old Nick, when they gets there, for 'tis the old gentlemen they cozens the best; and then," continued the Corporal, waxing more and more loquacious, for his appetite in talking grew with that it fed on,--"then there be another set o' queer folks you'll see in Lunnon, Sir, that is, if you falls in with 'em,--hang all together, quite in a clink.

French

Etymology

16th century, from Dutch klieven, of Germanic origin. More at English cleave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kli.ve/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

cliver

1. to cleave (split)

   Le minéral se clive en formes régulières délimitées par les plans de clivage.

   The mineral cleaves into regular shapes delimited by the cleavage planes.

Conjugation

Conjugation of cliver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cliver
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	clivant /kli.vɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		clivé /kli.ve/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	clive /kliv/	clives /kliv/	clive /kliv/	clivons /kli.vɔ̃/	clivez /kli.ve/	clivent /kliv/
	imperfect	clivais /kli.vɛ/	clivais /kli.vɛ/	clivait /kli.vɛ/	clivions /kli.vjɔ̃/	cliviez /kli.vje/	clivaient /kli.vɛ/
	past historic2	clivai /kli.ve/	clivas /kli.va/	cliva /kli.va/	clivâmes /kli.vam/	clivâtes /kli.vat/	clivèrent /kli.vɛʁ/
	future	cliverai /kli.vʁe/	cliveras /kli.vʁa/	clivera /kli.vʁa/	cliverons /kli.vʁɔ̃/	cliverez /kli.vʁe/	cliveront /kli.vʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cliverais /kli.vʁɛ/	cliverais /kli.vʁɛ/	cliverait /kli.vʁɛ/	cliverions /kli.və.ʁjɔ̃/	cliveriez /kli.və.ʁje/	cliveraient /kli.vʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	clive /kliv/	clives /kliv/	clive /kliv/	clivions /kli.vjɔ̃/	cliviez /kli.vje/	clivent /kliv/
	imperfect2	clivasse /kli.vas/	clivasses /kli.vas/	clivât /kli.va/	clivassions /kli.va.sjɔ̃/	clivassiez /kli.va.sje/	clivassent /kli.vas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	clive /kliv/	—	clivons /kli.vɔ̃/	clivez /kli.ve/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• clivage

References

• Etymology and history of “cliver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Further reading

• “cliver”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Scots

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈklɪvər/

Adjective

cliver (comparative cliverer, superlative cliverest)

1. swift, quick, speedy
2. handsome, well-made