clove

Etymology 1

From Middle English clove, an alteration of earlier clowe, borrowed from the first component of Old French clou (de girofle) (modern French clou de girofle), from Latin clāvus (“nail”) for its shape. Also see clāva (“knotty branch, club”). Doublet of clou.

noun

1. (uncountable, countable) A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.
2. (countable) A clove tree, of the species Syzygium aromaticum (syn. Caryophyllus aromaticus), native to the Moluccas (Indonesian islands), which produces the spice.
3. (countable) An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.
   Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod 6+¹⁄₂ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. The 'Pathway' points out the etymology of the word cloves; it calls them ' claves or nails.' It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds. 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 202
   By a statute of 9 Hen. VI. it was ordained that the wey of cheese should contain 32 cloves of 7 lbs. each, i.e. 224 lbs., or 2 cwts. 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 169

Etymology 2

From Middle English clove, from Old English clufu, from Proto-West Germanic *klubu, from Proto-Germanic *klubō, related to clēofan (“to cleave, split”), hence with the verbal etymology hereafter.

noun

1. (horticulture, cooking) One of the small bulbs formed in the axils of the scales of a large bulb.
   clove of garlic, garlic clove, clove of a sea-onion, clove of shallot, cloves of bulbs

Etymology 3

verb

1. simple past of cleave

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Dutch kloof.

noun

1. (geography) A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch