Cleave

Home

English – Cleave
to split or divide by a cutting blow, to penetrate or pass through

Hebrew – chaloph
exchange, pass away, vanishing, change, knife

OT:2475 chalowph (khal-ofe’); from OT:2498; properly, surviving; by implication (collectively) orphans:
KJV – destruction.

OT:2487 chaliyphah (khal-ee-faw’); from OT:2498; alternation:
KJV – change, course.

OT:2498 chalaph (khaw-laf’); a primitive root; properly, to slide by, i.e. (by implication) to hasten away, pass on, spring up, pierce or change:
KJV – abolish, alter, change, cut off, go on forward, grow up, be over, pass (away, on, through), renew, sprout, strike through.

OT:2499   chalaph (Aramaic) (khal-af’); corresponding to OT:2498; to pass on (of time):
KJV – pass.

OT:2500   cheleph (klay’-lef); from OT:2498; properly, exchange; hence (as preposition) instead of:
KJV – for.

Cleave

-verb (used without object), cleaved or Archaic clave; cleaved; cleaving.

1. to adhere closely; stick; cling (usually followed by to ).

2. to remain faithful (usually followed by to ): to cleave to one’s principles in spite of persecution.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English cleven, Old English cleofian, cognate with Old High German kleben ( German kleben), Old Norse kljufa; akin to Greek glýphein to carve, Latin glubere to peel.

-verb (used with object)

1. to split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, especially along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood.

2. to make by or as if by cutting: to cleave a path through the wilderness.

3. to penetrate or pass through (air, water, etc.): The bow of the boat cleaved the water cleanly. EXPAND

4. to cut off; sever: to cleave a branch from a tree. COLLAPSE

-verb (used without object)

5. to part or split, especially along a natural line of division.

6. to penetrate or advance by or as if by cutting (usually followed by through ).

– vb (when intr, foll by through ) , cleaves , cleaving , cleft , cleaved , clove , cleft , cleaved , cloven 1. to split or cause to split, esp along a natural weakness 2. ( tr ) to make by or as if by cutting: to cleave a path 3. to penetrate or traverse

Word Origin & History

“to split,” O.E. cleofan “to split, separate” (class II strong verb, past tense cleaf, past participle clofen). Past tense form clave is recorded in Northern writers from 14c. and was used with both verbs (see cleave (2)), apparently by analogy with other ME strong verbs. Common to c.1600 and still alive at the time of the King James Bible; weak p.t. cleaved also emerged in 14c. for this verb; cleft is still later. The p.p. cloven survives, though mostly in compounds.

“to adhere,” O.E. clifian , from W.Gmc. *klibajanan.