▪ I. cleaving, vbl. n.1
(ˈkliːvɪŋ)
[f. cleave v.1]
1. The action of the vb. cleave; splitting.
| c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 151 Sectio, cliofung. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 82 Clyuynge or departynge [1499 cleuynge], scissura. 1576 Fleming Panoplie Ep. 356 Let us take the axe..and settle ourselves to cleaving and riveing. 1865 J. T. F. Turner Slate Quarries 15 Cleaving is an art in which none can excel but those who practise it early. |
b. intr.
| 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Seasoning of Timber, Submerging it in Water, to prevent cleaving. |
2. concr. A cleft, fissure; parting of the limbs (cf. cleft 2).
| c 1400 Mandeville viii. 86 The Rocke cleef in two, and in that clevyng was our Lord hidd. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. (1682) 150 They bind a strong rope about his shoulders and cleavings. 1724 in Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1763) 322 Syne in the cleaving of a craig She found him drown'd in Yarrow. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 199 With the Cleaving-knife and the Mawl, split it into a square piece. 1861 Macm. Mag. III. 185/2 The cleaving property of the diamond. |
▪ II. cleaving, vbl. n.2
(ˈkliːvɪŋ)
[f. cleave v.2]
The action of adhering or sticking to.
| c 1430 Cookery Bks. (E.E.T.S.) 42 But ware of cleuyng to the panne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 8 Clyuynge to, or fastenynge to a þynge [1499 cleuynge], adhesio. 1655 Ref. Commw. Bees 60 To keep asunder the wax from cleaving. |
b. fig. (see the verb).
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Entretenement, an entertaining, a cleauing one to an other. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows i. §54. 94 A precise cleaving..to Gods word. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xvii. (1876) 215 The instinctive cleaving of every thing that lives to its own existence. |
▪ III. cleaving, ppl. a.1
(ˈkliːvɪŋ)
[f. cleave v.1 + -ing2.]
That cleaves or splits.
| 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. vi. (1626) 109 The cleauing rock, from whence a fountayn brake. 1725 Pope Odyss. v. 189 He cut the cleaving sky. 1819 Shelley Let. Peacock 25 Feb., Sky-cleaving mountains. |
▪ IV. ˈcleaving, ppl. a.2
[f. cleave v.2 + -ing2.]
† 1. As adj. Adhesive; clinging; clammy. Obs.
| c 1350 Hampole in Archæol. XIX. 322 His fete schul wexe colde, his womb clevyng. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 118 The nature of a passyon of ire or fylthy pleasure of the body is so viscose & cleuynge. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. v. 85 Fat and pitch being cleaving bodies. |
2. That cleaves, adheres, or clings.
| 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. ii. (1851) 55 A cleaving curse be his inheritance to all generations. 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 164 So to..fasten myself upon him by the most Cleaving Love. 1846 Trench Mirac. x. (1862) 214 The cleaving taint which is theirs by birth. |
† b. fig. Abiding, lasting, persistent.
| 1340 Ayenb. 54 Þise sceles byeþ zuo cleuiinde þet þe wyseste and þe holyiste man byeþ oþerhuyl becaȝt. Ibid. 107 Þe memorie is zuo cleuiynde ine him. |