to cleave

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Eileen Opiolka
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to cleave

Postby Eileen Opiolka » Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:03 pm

Cleave has two quite different meanings, to cling and to cut. "cleft" and "cloven" are also interesting participles.
I would be interested in finding out if there is any etymological connection between the two meanings.


Eileen Opiolka

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Slava
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Re: to cleave

Postby Slava » Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:44 pm

Oddly enough, though treated twice by our Good Doctor, this word never made it to the Agora. Here it is from the dictionary on the main site.
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misterdoe
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Re: to cleave

Postby misterdoe » Tue Apr 15, 2014 12:05 am

Well, the Doc's explanation makes it clear they're actually two different words. But picture this: someone walks up to a tree stump with an axe. He or she swings the axe and cleaves the stump in two, only to find the axe is cleaving to the newly-split wood.


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