cleft

cleft
    adj 1: having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the
           midrib [syn: {cleft}, {dissected}]
    n 1: a split or indentation in something (as the palate or chin)
    2: a long narrow opening [syn: {crack}, {cleft}, {crevice},
       {fissure}, {scissure}]
    

Cleave \Cleave\ (kl[=e]v), v. t. [imp. {Cleft} (kl[e^]ft),
   {Clave} (kl[=a]v, Obs.), {Clove} (kl[=o]v, Obsolescent); p.
   p. {Cleft}, {Cleaved} (kl[=e]vd) or {Cloven} (kl[=o]"v'n); p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Cleaving}.] [OE. cleoven, cleven, AS.
   cle['o]fan; akin to OS. klioban, D. klooven, G. klieben,
   Icel. klj[=u]fa, Sw. klyfva, Dan. kl["o]ve and prob. to Gr.
   gly`fein to carve, L. glubere to peel. Cf. {Cleft}.]
   1. To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to cut.
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            O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain. --Shak.
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   2. To part or open naturally; to divide.
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            Every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the
            cleft into two claws.                 --Deut. xiv.
                                                  6.
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Cleft \Cleft\ (kl[e^]ft),
   imp. & p. p. from {Cleave}.
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Cleft \Cleft\, a.
   1. Divided; split; partly divided or split.
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   2. (Bot.) Incised nearly to the midrib; as, a cleft leaf.
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Cleft \Cleft\, n. [OE. clift; cf. Sw. klyft cave, den, Icel.
   kluft cleft, Dan. kl["o]ft, G. kluft. See {Cleave} to split
   and cf. 2d {Clift}, 1st {Clough}.]
   1. A space or opening made by splitting; a crack; a crevice;
      as, the cleft of a rock. --Is. ii. 21.
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   2. A piece made by splitting; as, a cleft of wood.
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   3. (Far.) A disease in horses; a crack on the band of the
      pastern.
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   {Branchial clefts}. See under {Branchial}.

   Syn: Crack; crevice; fissure; chink; cranny.
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171 Moby Thesaurus words for "cleft":
      abysm, abyss, alienation, aperture, arroyo, bifurcated, bisected,
      blaze, box canyon, branched, branching, breach,
      breach of friendship, break, breakage, broaching, burst, canyon,
      cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chinky, chip, clearing,
      cleavage, cleuch, clough, clove, cloven, col, coulee, couloir,
      crack, cracked, cranny, crena, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, defile,
      dehiscent, dell, depression, dichotomous, dike, dimidiate,
      disaffection, disclosure, disfavor, disruption, disunion, disunity,
      ditch, divergence, divided, dividedness, division, donga, draw,
      estrangement, excavation, falling-out, fault, fenestra, fissure,
      fissured, fissury, fistula, flaw, flume, fontanel, foramen, forked,
      forking, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gaping, gappy, gash, gat,
      gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hack, halved, hiatus, hole,
      hollow, in pieces, in shreds, incision, indentation, inlet,
      interval, jag, jog, joggle, joint, kerf, kloof, lacerate,
      lacerated, lacuna, laying open, leak, mangled, moat, mutilated,
      nick, nock, notch, nullah, open rupture, opening, opening up,
      orifice, outlet, pass, passage, passageway, pore, quartered,
      ragged, ramified, ravine, recall of ambassadors, rent, rift, rime,
      rimose, rimulose, rip, riven, rupture, scale, schism, scissure,
      score, scotch, seam, separation, severed, shredded, slash, slice,
      slit, slot, space, splinter, splintered, split, stoma, tattered,
      tear, throwing open, torn, trench, uncorking, unstopping, valley,
      void, wadi, yawn