cliver

English

Adjective

cliver

1. (obsolete or dialectal) clever
   • 1918, Harold Bindloss, The Buccaneer Farmer^[1]:

     There's ways a cliver agent can run up a reckoning, and when you want Mireside I'll have to gan." "

   • 1893, Robert Michael Ballantyne, The World of Ice^[2]:

     "Ah, but it's a cliver trick, no doubt of it."

   • 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner^[3]:

     For I've often a deal inside me as'll never come out; and for what you talk o' your folks in your old country niver saying prayers by heart nor saying 'em out of a book, they must be wonderful cliver; for if I didn't know "Our Father", and little bits o' good words as I can carry out o' church wi' me, I might down o' my knees every night, but nothing could I say."

   • 1831, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Eugene Aram, Complete^[4]:

     Oh, they be cliver creturs, and they'll do what they likes with old Nick, when they gets there, for 'tis the old gentlemen they cozens the best; and then," continued the Corporal, waxing more and more loquacious, for his appetite in talking grew with that it fed on,--"then there be another set o' queer folks you'll see in Lunnon, Sir, that is, if you falls in with 'em,--hang all together, quite in a clink.

French

Etymology

XVIth century, from Dutch klieven, via the technical vocabulary of the diamant industry which was already flourishing.

Note - kliver is attested in the XIth century in Judeo-French (Gerschom de Metz), of Germanic origins.

Verb

cliver

1. cleave

   Le minéral se clive en formes régulières délimitées par les plans de clivage.

Conjugation

   Conjugation of cliver (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		cliver			avoir clivé
gerund		en clivant			en ayant clivé
present participle		clivant
past participle		clivé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	clive	clives	clive	clivons	clivez	clivent
	imperfect	clivais	clivais	clivait	clivions	cliviez	clivaient
	past historic1	clivai	clivas	cliva	clivâmes	clivâtes	clivèrent
	future	cliverai	cliveras	clivera	cliverons	cliverez	cliveront
	conditional	cliverais	cliverais	cliverait	cliverions	cliveriez	cliveraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	clive	clives	clive	clivions	cliviez	clivent
	imperfect1	clivasse	clivasses	clivât	clivassions	clivassiez	clivassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	clive	—	clivons	clivez	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

• clivage

References

• "cliver" in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).