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.

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French

Etymology

16th century, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch klieven, of (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  origin. More at English cleave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kli.ve/

Verb

cliver

1. to cleave (split)

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

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.

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Scots

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈklɪvər/

Adjective

cliver (comparative cliverer, superlative cliverest)

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