n. Preterit, and formerly sometimes (for cloven, to which the o in pret. clove is due) past participle, of cleave.n. One of the small bulbs formed in the axils of the scales of a mother bulb, as in garlic.n. A ravine or rocky fissure; a gorge: as, the Kaaterskill clove in the Catskill mountains.n. A very pungent aromatic spice, the dried flower-buds of Eugenia caryophyllata, of the natural order Myrtaccæ, originally of the Moluccas, but now cultivated in Zanzibar, the West Indies, Brazil, and other tropical regions. The tree is a handsome evergreen, from 15 to 30 feet high, with large, elliptic, smooth leaves and numerous purplish flowers on jointed stalks. Every part of the plant abounds in the volatile oil for which the flower-buds are prized. Cloves are very largely used as a spice, and in medicine for their stimulant and aromatic properties.n. The tree which bears cloves.n. [F. clou, a nail: see etym.] A long spike-nail.n. In England, a weight of cheese, etc. A statute of 1430 makes the clove equal to 7 pounds.n. A cleft; an opening: as, the clove in the roving-carriage of a cotton-jenny.