Cloves are small dried flower buds used as a spice.
...chicken soup with cloves.
2. countable noun
A clove of garlic is one of the sections of a garlic bulb.
3.
Clove is a past tense of cleave.
clove in British English1
(kləʊv)
noun
1.
a tropical evergreen myrtaceous tree, Syzygium aromaticum, native to the East Indies but cultivated elsewhere, esp Zanzibar
2.
the dried unopened flower buds of this tree, used as a pungent fragrant spice
Word origin
C14: from Old French clou de girofle, literally: nail of clove, clou from Latin clāvus nail + girofle clove tree
clove in British English2
(kləʊv)
noun
any of the segments of a compound bulb that arise from the axils of the scales of a large bulb
Word origin
Old English clufu bulb; related to Old High German klovolouh garlic; see cleave1
clove in British English3
(kləʊv)
verb
a past tense of cleave1
clove in American English1
(kloʊv)
noun
1.
the dried flower bud of a tropical evergreen tree (Eugenia aromatica) of the myrtle family, originally native to the East Indies: used as a pungent, fragrant spice
2.
the tree
Word origin
ME clowe < OFr clou (de girofle), lit., nail (of clove) < L clavus, nail (see close2); so called from its shape
clove in American English2
(kloʊv)
noun
a segment of a bulb, as of garlic
Word origin
ME < OE clufu, akin to cleofan, to split: see cleave1