From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcleavecleave /kliːv/ verb (past tense cleaved, clove /kləʊv $ kloʊv/ or cleft /kleft/, past participle cleaved, cloven /ˈkləʊvən $ ˈkloʊ-/ or cleft) 1 [intransitive, transitive always + adverb/preposition]CUT literary to cut something into separate parts using a heavy tool, or to be able to be cut in this way The wooden door had been cleft in two.2 [transitive]DIFFERENT formal to divide something into two completely separate parts the racial problems that still cleave American society3 → cleave the air/darkness etc → cleave to somebody/something→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cleave• Frozen sea-spray cleaved at their faces.• The heavy, cleaving blade was devastating with just one blow.• He was kissing Claudia, his body straining against hers, his hands cleaving her bottom.• Aenarion rose and smote the daemon mightily, cleaving its head in two and shearing its arm from its body.• A hog in a headscarf squealed as she cleaved its skull with her axe.• It was his choice, she said, to cleave to the Brownings and he was a hypocrite to say otherwise.• Our organization is trying to ease the racial problems that still cleave U.S. society.• Other sites are cleaved with much lower efficiency.Origin cleave Old English cleofan. cleave to Old English clifian 