<B>clove</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a strong, fragrant spice made from the dried flower buds of a tropical evergreen tree of the myrtle family. <DD><B> 2. </B>the dried flower bud. <BR> <I>Ex. Cloves, easily recognized by their characteristic naillike shape, are the dried unopened buds of an evergreen tree (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the tree. </DL>
<A NAME="clove">
<B>clove</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small, separate section of a bulb. <BR> <I>Ex. a clove of garlic.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clove">
<B>clove</B> (3), verb. <B>=cleft;</B> a past tense of <B>cleave</B> (1).</DL>
<A NAME="clove">
<B>clove</B> (4), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rocky cleft; ravine; gorge (used in place names, especially in New York). </DL>
<A NAME="clovegillyflower">
<B>clove-gillyflower, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the clove pink or carnation. </DL>
<A NAME="clovehitch">
<B>clove hitch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a knot for tying rope around a pole, spar, or other round object; builder's knot. </DL>
<A NAME="cloven">
<B>cloven, </B>verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>verb </I> cleft; a past participle of <B>cleave</B> (1). <DD><I>adj. </I> split; divided into two parts. The hoofs of cows and sheep are cloven. </DL>
<B>cloven hoof,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a hoof divided into two main parts. Cows have cloven hoofs. The Devil is traditionally pictured with cloven hoofs. </DL>
<B>clove pink,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pink with a spicy smell like that of cloves. The carnation is a cultivated variety of clove pink. </DL>
<A NAME="clover">
<B>clover, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a low plant usually having leaves with three small leaflets and sweet-smelling, rounded heads of small, red, white, yellow, or purple flowers. Clover is grown as food for horses and cattle and to make the soil richer. Clover belongs to the pea family. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar plant of the pea family, such as sweet clover. <BR><I>expr. <B>in clover,</B> </I>enjoying a life of pleasure and luxury without work or worry. <BR> <I>Ex. He has been sometimes in clover as a traveling tutor, sometimes he has slept and fared hard (Robert A. Vaughan).</I> adj. <B>cloverlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cloverleaf">
<B>cloverleaf, </B>noun, pl. <B>-leafs</B> or <B>-leaves,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> an intersection of two highways, with one passing over the other, and with a series of curving ramps in the shape of a four-leaf clover that permit traffic to move from one highway to the other without having to cross in front of other traffic. <DD><I>adj. </I> having the shape of a four-leaf clover. <BR> <I>Ex. a cloverleaf container, hot cloverleaf rolls.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cloverworm">
<B>clover worm,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a green caterpillar, the larva of an American noctuid moth. </DL>
<B>Clovis, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of, designating, or having to do with an extinct civilization of the Pleistocene in the southwestern United States, centered chiefly in the arid plains of what is now New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. <BR> <I>Ex. Clovis fluted stone points, weapons used by early American man, were found for the first time in direct association with remains of a mammoth in Arizona (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> the Clovis civilization. </DL>
<A NAME="clowder">
<B>clowder, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a group (of cats). <BR> <I>Ex. That's a fine clowder of cats you have there, Aunt (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clown">
<B>clown, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a person who makes a business of making people laugh by tricks and jokes; fool or jester. Clowns appear especially at circuses and carnivals and wear funny costumes and make-up. <BR> <I>Ex. The clowns at the circus were very funny.</I> (SYN) buffoon. <DD><B> b. </B>a person who acts like a clown; a joker or comedian. <BR> <I>Ex. Who's the clown who put sugar in the saltshaker?</I> (SYN) buffoon. <DD><B> 2. </B>a bad-mannered, awkward person. (SYN) boor. <DD><B> 3. </B>a countryman, rustic, or peasant. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to act like a clown; play tricks and jokes; act silly. <BR> <I>Ex. The Twenty-One Club "Gentlemen" clowned through ... an inning and a half of a softball "contest" (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clownery">
<B>clownery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the tricks and jokes of a clown. <DD><B> 2. </B>a clownish act. </DL>
<A NAME="clownish">
<B>clownish, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>like a clown; like a clown's. <BR> <I>Ex. a clownish appearance, clownish behavior.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>boorish; clumsy; rough. adv. <B>clownishly.</B> noun <B>clownishness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cloxacillin">
<B>cloxacillin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a synthetic form of penicillin effective against germs that have developed resistance to natural penicillin. </DL>
<A NAME="cloy">
<B>cloy, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make or become weary by too much, too sweet, or too rich food. <BR> <I>Ex. His appetite was cloyed by all the candy he had eaten.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to make or become weary by too much of anything pleasant; satiate; surfeit. <BR> <I>Ex. These are enough to satisfy, more would cloy (Thomas Fuller).</I> (SYN) pall. </DL>
<A NAME="cloying">
<B>cloying, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> producing weariness or disgust through surfeit. <BR> <I>Ex. I am a great admirer of Massenet, even though the slightly sugary sentimentality of his music can become a little cloying (New Yorker).</I> adv. <B>cloyingly.</B> noun <B>cloyingness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cloyless">
<B>cloyless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that does not cloy. <BR> <I>Ex. Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite (Shakespeare).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cloze">
<B>cloze, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Education.) of or based upon a method of testing for reading comprehension which measures the ability of a reader to supply words which have been systematically deleted from a reading selection. <BR> <I>Ex. the cloze procedure, cloze exercises.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clu">
<B>C.L.U.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Chartered Life Underwriter (of insurance). </DL>
<A NAME="club">
<B>club, </B>noun, verb, <B>clubbed,</B> <B>clubbing,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a heavy stick of wood, thicker at one end, used as a weapon. <BR> <I>Ex. The farmer used the branch as a club to kill the snake.</I> (SYN) cudgel. <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. Once possessed of the club of the industry-wide strike, he is hardly likely to disarm himself (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a stick or bat used to hit a ball in some games. <BR> <I>Ex. golf clubs.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>an Indian club. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Nautical.) a light, small spar used to hold a small sail, especially one at the top of a mast of a vessel which is rigged fore and aft. <DD><B> 5a. </B>a group of people joined together for some special purpose. <BR> <I>Ex. a tennis club, a canoe club, a nature-study club.</I> (SYN) association, society. <DD><B> b. </B>the building, rooms, or facilities used by a club; clubhouse or clubroom. <DD><B> c. </B>a night club. <BR> <I>Ex. fashionable clubs and resorts.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a business organization which offers certain benefits to members or subscribers. <BR> <I>Ex. a record club, a book club, an investment club.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>a group of nations associated in some enterprise or activity. <BR> <I>Ex. the NATO club, the Common Market club. ... to keep Germany partitioned and out of even associate membership in the atomic club (C. L. Sulzberger).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>a figure shaped like a trefoil leaf. <DD><B> 9. </B>a playing card with one or more black, trefoil-leaf figures. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to beat or hit with a club or something similar; knock down with a club. <BR> <I>Ex. The boys clubbed the hornets' nest with a long stick. The hikers clubbed the snake to death with their walking sticks. (Figurative.) They [unions] have proved by repeated strikes that they could club the city into giving them better contracts (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to turn (a rifle) around to use as a club. <DD><B> 3. </B>to gather or form into a club-shaped mass. <BR> <I>Ex. He had a few gray hairs plaited and clubbed behind (Washington Irving).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to contribute as one's share toward a common fund or for a certain purpose; make up by contributing jointly. <BR> <I>Ex. The alumni of the school clubbed a fund of money for needy students.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to combine into one; join together; unite. <BR> <I>Ex. ... clubbing our books in a common library (Benjamin Franklin).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to join together for some special purpose. <DD><B> 2. </B>to contribute to a common fund; share expenses. <BR> <I>Ex. The children clubbed together to buy a birthday present for their mother.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to form a club. <DD><B> 4. </B>to gather into a mass. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with a club or clubs. <BR><I>expr. <B>clubs,</B> </I>the suit of playing cards marked with black trefoil-leaf figures. <BR> <I>Ex. In this game, clubs are trump.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clubbable">
<B>clubbable</B> or <B>clubable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> fit to be a member of a club; sociable; companionable. <BR> <I>Ex. Essentially Wilson was a clubbable man. He loved good company and he loved a good game of golf or bridge (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="clubbed">
<B>clubbed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> club-shaped; thick at the end. </DL>
<A NAME="clubber">
<B>clubber, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who belongs to a club or clubs; clubman. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who wields a club. <BR> <I>Ex. [His] reputation as a clubber and as an efficient riot-queller is much more than local (New York Voice).</I> </DL>
<B>clubby, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of a clubbable or social nature. <BR> <I>Ex. Your natural impulse in the dark is to be clubby (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>pervaded by the characteristics of a club. <BR> <I>Ex. English literary life is almost too clubby, too narrowly dominated by a set of good companions (Saturday Review).</I> adv. <B>clubbily.</B> noun <B>clubbiness.</B> </DL>
