clive

See also: Clive and clivé

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English cliven, from Old English clīfan (“to cleave, adhere, stick”), from Proto-West Germanic *klīban, from Proto-Germanic *klībaną (“to glue, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleybʰ- (“to lubricate, stick”).

Cognate with Dutch kleven (“to adhere, stick”), German kleben (“to adhere, stick”), Swedish kliva (“to climb, stalk”), Icelandic klífa (“to climb, ascend”).

Verb

clive (third-person singular simple present clives, present participle cliving, simple past clived or clove, past participle clived or clove or cliven)

1. (intransitive) To climb; ascend.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *clive (in compound: Middle English garclive), from Old English clīfe (“clifers (cleavers), burdock”), from Proto-West Germanic *klībā. Cognate with Middle Dutch kleve, klijve (“burdock”), Middle Low German klive (“burdock”).

Noun

clive (plural clives)

1. Burdock or agrimony.

Etymology 3

From Middle English cliven, from Old Norse klyfja, klufða (“to split, chop, cleave”), from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną (“to split, pick”), from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, carve, peel”). Cognate with Old English clēofan (“to cleave, split, separate”). Doublet of cleave.

Verb

clive (third-person singular simple present clives, present participle cliving, simple past and past participle clived)

1. (transitive) To split; separate; cleave; chop.
   • 1990, John Ashurst, Francis G. Dimes, Conservation of building and decorative stone: Volume 1:

     After 'frosting' the stone may be 'clived' or split along the bedding planes. Once clived, the thin slabs are dressed for use and sold as Collyweston Slates, for use as tilestones.

   • 2007, Robert Ader, Psychoneuroimmunology:

     IL-1β presents the peculiarity of being produced in the form of a biologically inactive precursor, known as proIL-1β, that needs to be clived at an aspartate residue by a specific enzyme, named interleukin-1β converting enzyme (ICE) or [...]

Anagrams

• Velic, velic

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: clivent, clives

Verb

clive

1. inflection of cliver:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Noun

clīve

1. vocative singular of clīvus

Middle English

Noun

clive

1. alternative form of clyf

Spanish

Verb

clive

1. inflection of clivar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative