English

Proper noun

Clive

1. A topographic surname​ - someone who lived near a cliff (Old English clif).
2. A male given name derived from the surname. Popular in Britain in mid-twentieth century.
   • 1949 Mazo de la Roche, Mary Wakefield, Dundurn Press (2009), ISBN 1550028774, page 132:

     "I suppose you," she said, "were named for General Clive." "I was. And my father was named for General Brock."

3. A village in Alberta.
4. A city in Iowa.
5. A town in New Zealand.
6. A village in Shropshire, England.

English

Verb

clive ‎(third-person singular simple present clives, present participle cliving, simple past clived or clove, past participle clived or cliven)

1. (intransitive) To climb; ascend.

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old English clife ‎(“clifers (cleavers), burdock”). Cognate with Middle Dutch kleve, klijve ‎(“burdock”), Middle Low German klive ‎(“burdock”).

Noun

clive ‎(plural clives)

1. Burdock or agrimony.

Etymology 3

From Middle English cliven, from Old Norse klyfja, klufða ‎(“to split, chop, cleave”), from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną ‎(“to split, pick”), from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- ‎(“to cut, carve, peel”). Cognate with Old English clēofan ‎(“to cleave, split, separate”). More at cleave.

Verb

clive ‎(third-person singular simple present clives, present participle cliving, simple past and past participle clived)

1. (transitive) To split; separate; cleave; chop.
   • 1990, John Ashurst, Francis G. Dimes, Conservation of building and decorative stone: Volume 1:

     After 'frosting' the stone may be 'clived' or split along the bedding planes. Once clived, the thin slabs are dressed for use and sold as Collyweston Slates, for use as tilestones.

   • 2007, Robert Ader, Psychoneuroimmunology:

     IL-1β presents the peculiarity of being produced in the form of a biologically inactive precursor, known as proIL-1β, that needs to be clived at an aspartate residue by a specific enzyme, named interleukin-1β converting enzyme (ICE) or [...]

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: clivent, clives

Verb

clive

1. first-person singular present indicative of cliver
2. third-person singular present indicative of cliver
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of cliver
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of cliver
5. second-person singular imperative of cliver

Latin

Noun

clīve

1. vocative singular of clīvus