cleave

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To split with or as if with a sharp instrument. See Synonyms at tear¹.
2. v. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
3. v. To pierce or penetrate: The wings cleaved the foggy air.
4. v. Chemistry To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
5. v. Mineralogy To split or separate, especially along a natural line of division.
6. v. To penetrate or pass through something, such as water or air.
7. v. To adhere, cling, or stick fast.
8. v. To be faithful: cleave to one's principles.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To stick; adhere; be attached; cling: often used figuratively.
2. To fit closely.
3. To part or divide by force; rend apart; split or rive; separate or sunder into parts, or (figuratively) seem to do so: as, to cleave wood; to cleave a rock.
4. To produce or effect by cleavage or clearance; make a way for by force; hew out: as, to cleave a path through a wilderness.
5. . To part or open naturally.
6. Synonyms Split, Rip, etc. See rend.
7. To come apart; divide; split; open; especially, to split with a smooth plane fracture, or in layers, as certain minerals and rocks. See cleavage, 2 and 3.
8. In agriculture, to replow (old ridges) in such a manner as to divide each in the middle. See cleaving. Also split.
9. n. In mining, a subdivision of a bed, usually of iron ore; a bench.
10. n. A basket or basketful: as a cleave of potatoes, or of turf.

Wiktionary

1. v. To split or sever something or as if with a sharp instrument.
2. v. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
3. v. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting: cleave a path through the ice.
4. v. To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
5. v. To split.
6. v. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
7. v. To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.
8. v. To be faithful.
9. n. Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast; to cling.
2. v. To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment.
3. v. To fit; to be adapted; to assimilate.
4. v. To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to cut.
5. v. To part or open naturally; to divide.
6. v. To part; to open; to crack; to separate; as parts of bodies.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make by cutting into
2. v. separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
3. v. come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation