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to cleave

Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:03 pm
by Eileen Opiolka
Cleave has two quite different meanings, to cling and to cut. "cleft" and "cloven" are also interesting participles.
I would be interested in finding out if there is any etymological connection between the two meanings.


Eileen Opiolka

Re: to cleave

Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:44 pm
by Slava
Oddly enough, though treated twice by our Good Doctor, this word never made it to the Agora. Here it is from the dictionary on the main site.

Re: to cleave

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:05 am
by misterdoe
Well, the Doc's explanation makes it clear they're actually two different words. But picture this: someone walks up to a tree stump with an axe. He or she swings the axe and cleaves the stump in two, only to find the axe is cleaving to the newly-split wood.