▪ I. clift, n.1
The earlier and more etymological form of the n. now usually made cleft, q.v.
▪ II. clift, n.2
(klɪft)
[A by-form of cliff, due to confusion between that word and clift, cleft, a fissure. Exceedingly common in 16–18th c., and used by some writers in the 19th c.]
= cliff (in its various applications).
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1493 Hipsiphile & Medea, This lady rombith by the clift to pleye. 1567 Drant Horace Ep. xiii. E iij, Through cliftes [L. per clivos] & fluddes. 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. i. ii, We will walk upon the lofty cliftes. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. vi. 62 High white clay clifts. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. iii. 52, I clamber'd up the Clifts of the Shore. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 507 The perpendicular side of Chalk Clifts. a 1822 Shelley Scenes fr. Faust Wks. 704 How, clift by clift, rocks bend and lift Their frowning foreheads as we go. 1832 Marryat N. Forster ii, A high land, which terminated in a precipitous clift. |
▪ III. clift, -ed, -ing
see cleft-.