▪ I. † clave1 Obs.
[ad. L. clāva knotty stick, club, scion.]
A knotty branch, scion, graft.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 415 In March orenge is sette in sondry wyse..in bough, in branches and in clave. |
▪ II. † clave2 Obs.
[? ad. L. clāvis key, bolt.]
† 1.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvi. xl, The leaves of the dores belonging to this temple..stood foure yeres glewed in the clave [in glutinis compagine]. |
2. Naut. (See quots.)
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 151 Clave, a stool..supported by 4 legs; the top 6 feet long, 2 or 3 feet wide..in which the shells are set up with wedges for making the sheave-holes. Ibid. 153 The blocks are..jambed up..with wedges in a clave. |
3. (See quot.)
| 1847–78 Halliwell, Clave, the handle, or the part of a pair of small balances by which they are lifted up in weighing anything. |
▪ III. clave3 Mus.
(kleɪv, klɑːv)
Also clavé (‖ ˈklave).
[Amer. Sp., f. Sp. clave keystone, f. L. clāvis key.]
One of a pair of round sticks of hard wood, struck against each other when used in ‘Latin-American’ music. Usu. in pl.
| 1928 [see bongo2]. 1934 S. R. Nelson All about Jazz vii. 166 The Claves are two cylindrical sticks made of a special kind of wood found in Cuba. One of the claves is held in the cupped left hand and struck with the clave in the right hand, thus producing a hollow musical tone. 1957 M. Stearns Story of Jazz xix. 248 The traditional ‘off-center’ accents of the clavés, or wooden sticks, that make a penetrating hollow sound when struck together. 1961 J. Blades in A. Baines Mus. Instruments xiv. 348 The relentless clicking of the claves. |
▪ IV. clave
pa. tense of cleave v.