cleaver
US/ˈklivɚ/
cleaver noun: a squarish, heavy knife used by butchers for hacking through bones, etc.
Noun
cleaver (plural cleavers)
- A squarish, heavy knife used by butchers for hacking through bones, etc.
- When he came to Nottingham, he entered that part of the market where butchers stood, and took up his inn in the best place he could find. Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones:...1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC
- Concurrently with Flay's visualization of the cleaver falling—the cleaver fell.1946, Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
- A Paleolithic biface.
- A type of clave, or rhythm stick, a concussive musical instrument used in traditional Bahamian music.
- The act of eliminating someone or something, especially when done by someone with a history of other eliminations; a dismissal, rejection, or removal.
- Conte has broken the mould further with the suggestion he might escape the Abramovich cleaver, becoming the first of his line to leave by his own volition.2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian
- Synonyms:
- axe
- A type of oar blade with an asymmetric, mostly rectangular shape that resembles a cleaving knife.
- A line segment that bisects the perimeter of a triangle and has one endpoint at the midpoint of one of the triangle's three sides.
Proper noun capitalized: Cleaver
Cleaver (plural Cleavers)
- A surname from Middle English.
- The Eric Revis Trio, featuring the pianist Kris Davis, the bassist Eric Revis and the drummer Gerald Cleaver performing at the Jazz Gallery.2015 June 18, Nate Chinen, “Review: Eric Revis Trio Lets the Music Lead the Way at the Jazz Gallery”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2022
cleaver meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cleaver in Hindi
- a squarish knife used for hacking
- विदारक vidārak
cleaver in Tamil
- a squarish knife used for hacking
- வெட்டுக் veṭṭuk
cleaver in Marathi
- क्लीव्हर, क्लिव्हर, क्लीवर
cleaver in Urdu
- کلیور
More languagesFewer languages
- cleaver in Bengali
- কাটারী kaṭari
- cleaver in Telugu
- క్లీవర్ klīvar
- cleaver in Malayalam
- പിളർത്തിക്കൊണ്ട് piḷaṟttikkoṇṭŭ
- cleaver in Kannada
- ಸೀಳುಗ sīḷuga
- cleaver in Punjabi
- ਕਲੀਵਰ
- cleaver in Gujarati
- ક્લેવર, ક્લીવર, ક્લિવર
- cleaver in Odia
- କ୍ଲିଭର୍, କ୍ଲିଭର
- cleaver in Sinhala
- සයිස් වල sayis wala
- cleaver in Nepali
- क्लिभर, क्लीभर
- cleaver in Pashto
- سمت چاړه
- cleaver in Tagalog
- puthaw
- cleaver in Arabic
- سَاطُور sāṭūr
- cleaver in Persian
- ساتور sâtur
- cleaver in Thai
- ปังตอ bpang-dtɔɔ, อีโต้ ii-dtôo
- cleaver in Vietnamese
- dao phay
- cleaver in Myanmar
- ခုတ်ဓားမ hkutdha:ma.
- Sindhi
- ڦٽائيندڙ phṭāẽdṛ
Synonyms of cleaver
Forms of cleaver
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cleavers |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Cleavers |
Origin of cleaver
From Middle English clevere, equivalent to cleave + -er.
Occupational surname for someone who split wood, from Middle English clevere (“one who cleaves”).
Words that rhyme with cleaver
Questions about cleaver
- What does cleaver mean?
- Cleaver means a squarish, heavy knife used by butchers for hacking through bones, etc.
- What is cleaver in Hindi?
- Cleaver in Hindi is विदारक (vidārak). See Cleaver meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cleaver?
- Cleaver can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cleaver?
- Cleaver is pronounced /ˈklivɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of cleaver?
- The plural of cleaver is cleavers.
Words near cleaver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cleaver (page history and authors); Cleaver (page history and authors); cleaver (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cleaver (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cleaver (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cleaver (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cleaver (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cleaver (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cleaver.wav.
Cite this entry: “cleaver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cleaver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.