Clove

Quick meaning: Clove is a noun meaning (uncountable or countable) A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.

Meaning

(uncountable or countable) A very pungent aromatic spice, the unexpanded flower bud of the clove tree.

More Meanings

1. (countable) An old English measure of weight, containing 7 pounds (3.2 kg), i.e. half a stone.
2. (horticulture, cooking) One of the small bulbs formed in the axils of the scales of a large bulb.
3. simple past of cleave
4. (geography) A narrow valley with steep sides, used in areas of North America first settled by the Dutch
5. (countable) A clove tree, of the species Syzygium aromaticum (syn. Caryophyllus aromaticus), native to the Moluccas (Indonesian islands), which produces the spice.

Example Sentences

clove of garlic, garlic clove, clove of a sea-onion, clove of shallot, cloves of bulbs

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.

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.

Word Forms

• cloves

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include garlic, pod, gilliflower, rent, gillyflowers, clovewort.

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