clove

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“
I had to extract them, and did so by putting on a strong thread with what sailors call a clove-hitch, tie the other end to a stump above or below, as the tooth was upper or lower, strike the thread with a heavy pistol or stick, and the tooth dangled at the stump, and no pain was felt.

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Definitions (26)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun An evergreen tree (Syzygium aromaticum) native to the Moluccas and widely cultivated in warm regions for its aromatic dried flower buds.
  2. noun A flower bud of this plant, used whole or ground as a spice. Often used in the plural.
  3. noun One of the small sections of a separable bulb, as that of garlic.
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Examples (50)

  • My cure was good -- salt with crushed juniper berry, clove, anise, and black pepper. —  Feed Me/Drink Me
  • Peel and chop remaining garlic clove, then place all the garlic in a mini food processor and pulse until finely chopped (you can also finely mince the garlic by hand). —  Seriously Good
  • Mosquito Repellant The natural oil of clove is a natural mosquito repellant and can give protection against mosquitoes for —  Clipmarks | Live Clips
  • The locomotive, guided by an English engineer and fed with English coal, threw out its smoke upon cotton, coffee, nutmeg, clove, and pepper plantations, while the steam curled in spirals around groups of palm-trees, in the midst of which were seen picturesque bungalows, viharis (sort of abandoned monasteries), and marvellous temples enriched by the exhaustless ornamentation of Indian architecture. —  Around the World in 80 Days
  • This stud, as its name indicates, is in the form of a clove, which is sacred food and is eaten on fast-days. —  The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala
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Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old French clou (de girofle), nail (of the clove tree), from Latin clāvus, nail.
  2. Middle English, from Old English clufu; see gleubh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English clove (written cloue, also clowe; cf. clove), from Anglo-Saxon clufe, plural (singular not found) (= Low German klöve), clove, especially of garlic, also in comp. cluf-thung, crowfoot, and clufwyrt, buttercup, also spelled clof-thung, clofwyrt; = Old High German *chlobo, *chlofo, in comp. chlobolouh, chlofolouh, chlovolouh, Middle High German klobelouch, dissimilated knobelouch (cf. clue), German knoblauch = Middle Low German kloflōk, knuflock, Low German knufflōk = Middle Dutch knofloec, Dutch knoflook, garlic, literally ‘clove-leek.’ The orig. sense appears in Old High German *chlobo, Middle High German klobe, German klobe, kloben, a split stick, = Dutch kloof, a cleft (later clove, q. v.), = English clough, q. v.; thus ult. from Anglo-Saxon cleófan, English cleave, split: see cleave, clove, clough.
  2. from Dutch klove, now kloof, a cleft, ravine, = English clough, q. v. See also clove.
  3. from Middle English clowe, clawe, plural clowes, cloues, short for earlier Middle English clowe gilofre (cf. clovegillyflower), in the Ancren Riwle as Old French, clou de gilofre, French clou de girofle, also simply girofle, clove, = Spanish clavo giroflado, also clavo aromático, clavo de especia (see spice), or simply clavo, = Italian chiovo, chiodo di garofano, or simply garofano, gherofano, clove: so called from the shape of the clove, literally ‘nail of the gillyflower,’ the term gillyflower, Middle English gilofre, etc., being ult. a corrupted form of Greek καρυόφυλλον, literally ‘nut-leaf,’ applied to the clove-tree, and subsequently to various aromatic plants: see Caryophyllus, gillyflower. F. clou, Spanish clavo, etc., is literally ‘nail,’ from Latin clavus, a nail (prob. akin to clavis, a key), from claudere, close: see clavis, clef, close, v.
  4. Origin uncertain.
 

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/kloʊv/
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