clove
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Etymology 1
An alteration of Middle English clowe, from the first component of Old French clou de girofle, from Latin clāvus (“nail”) for its shape. Also see clāva (“knotty branch, club”)
[edit] Noun
clove (plural cloves)
- A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
- (botany) The tree Eugenia aromatica syn. Caryophyllus aromatica, native of the Moluccas (Indonesian islands) which produces it
- An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.
- 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge p. 202.
- Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod 6 1/2 tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. The 'Pathway' points out the etymology of the word cloves; it calls them ' claves or nails.' It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.
- 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 1, p. 169:
- By a statute of 9 Hen. VI. it was ordained that the wey of cheese should contain 32 cloves of 7 lbs. each, i.e. 224 lbs., or 2 cwts.
- 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge p. 202.
[edit] Translations
spice
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measure
[edit] Etymology 2
From Middle English, from Old English clufu, cognate with cleofan 'to split', hence with the verbal etymology hereafter
[edit] Noun
clove (plural cloves)
[edit] Translations
constitutive bulb of garlic
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[edit] Etymology 3
[edit] Verb
clove
- Simple past of cleave.
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Etymology 4
From Dutch kloof
[edit] Noun
clove (plural cloves)
- A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch
