cloverleaf

English

Alternative forms

• clover-leaf

Etymology

clover +‎ leaf

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkləʊvəliːf/
• (US) enPR: klōʹvər-lēf, IPA^(key): /ˈkloʊvɚliːf/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

cloverleaf (not comparable)

1. In the form of the leaf of a clover plant; cloverleafed.

Translations

in the form of cloverleaf

• Finnish: apila- (fi)

Noun

cloverleaf (plural cloverleafs or cloverleaves) (see individual senses for plurals)

1. (with plural cloverleaves) The leaf of a clover plant.
2. (US) (with plural cloverleafs or cloverleaves) A cloverleaf interchange.
   • 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:

     By the time we got into Tulsa Town
     We had eighty-five trucks in all
     But there's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf
     And them bears was wall-to-wall.

Derived terms

• cloverleaf antenna
• cloverleaf interchange
• cloverleaf model
• clover-leaf roll
• clover-leaf sight
• clover-leaf skull, cloverleaf skull
• cloverleaf stack
• cloverleaf tongue
• clover leaf weevil

Translations

leaf of a clover plant

• Finnish: apilanlehti
• German: Kleeblatt (de) n
• Luxembourgish: Kléiblat n

cloverleaf interchange — see cloverleaf interchange

Verb

cloverleaf (third-person singular simple present cloverleafs, present participle cloverleafing, simple past and past participle cloverleafed)

1. (intransitive) To turn by following a cloverleaf, or as if by following one.
   • 2003, David Maraniss, They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967:

     Hay told a military historian that Allen precipitated “the debacle” by “allowing his lead company to pursue the VC down the trail” instead of forming a perimeter and cloverleafing at the first sign of the enemy.