cleavage
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: biology
chemistry
geography
geology
government
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
Etymology: Etymology tree
English cleave
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos
Proto-Italic *-ātos
Latin -ātus
Proto-Indo-European *-ikos
Proto-Italic *-ikos
Latin -icus
Latin -āticus
Latin -āticum
Old French -agebor.
Middle English -age
English -age
English cleavage
From cleave + -age.
Inflected forms:
form: cleavages
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: The act of cleaving or the state of being cleft.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Mineral cleavage is a property of cohesion. The cleavage of the particles themselves and its attitude with reference to the plane of the greatest and mean dimensional axes help to determine the perfection of rock cleavage. The more nearly parallel to the greater dimensions of the particle, and the better the mineral cleavage, the better the rock cleavage produced.
[…] the forces — the internal cleavages over class differences, the desire for "the good life," the white racist flight from the die schwartze — which shattered Jewish working-class community in the generation before mine.
It will become apparent from the following discussion that some of the various structures which are grouped together as cleavage may correspond to a schistosity and/or foliation. Accordingly, Wilson defines rock cleavage (and schistosity) as a planar structure, usually distinct from stratification, which permits rocks to be fractured or cleaved into thin slices. Dennis (1977) defines cleavage as a set of closely spaced secondary, planar, parallel fabric elements that impart mechanical anisotropy to a rock without apparent loss of cohesion. This latter definition appears more precise; however, as we shall see, it presents many difficulties in dealing with those forms of cleavage which are mainly defined by foliation or by fractures.
gloss: The hollow or separation between a woman's breasts, especially as revealed by a low neckline.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Holonym: décolletage
Low-cut Restoration costumes worn by the Misses Lockwood and Roc (see cut) display too much "cleavage" (Johnston Office trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections).
Wendy thought that her therapist was looking down her cleavage and said so. The therapist was mortified and chiefly felt guilty, unsure whether she had been looking down her patient's cleavage or not. On a reflex she assured Wendy that she was not looking down her cleavage and the matter appeared to rest.
All this time I kept my gaze fixed on hers, an enormously difficult task given the gravitational pull exerted by her cleavage. While I was critical of many things when it came to so-called Western civilization, cleavage was not one of them.
gloss: Any similar separation between two body parts, such as the buttocks or toes.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
examples: Half an hour later, she was staring at a large bottom-cleavage, which was protruding from under the bed. / 'Ohhh Kayyy. Here we go. This is basically your problem.' / Olivia took a few steps back as the bottom-cleavage started wriggling out towards her. Connor the counter-surveillance expert pulled himself awkwardly to his knees, […]
Brenda lifted the top off a shoebox and dug beneath the tissue paper, unearthing a two-toned, turquoise-and-cream, high-heeled pump. "This is one of my favorites," she said, balancing it in the palm of her hand. "I love shoes that show toe cleavage." / "Toe cleavage?" / Brenda kicked off a leather sandal, slipped her foot into the pump, and pointed to the baseline of her toes peeking through. "That's toe cleavage!"
gloss: The repeated division of a cell into daughter cells after mitosis.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: [C]itellate annelids (leeches + oligochaetes) provide solid ground for comparative analyses, because they form a monophyletic group within the paraphyletic polychaetes[…]. […] The unequal cleavage of the zygote followed by the unequal cleavage of the CD cell is critical for D-quadrant specification since the cytoplasmic determinants present in teloplasm are segregated to the larger CD cell at first asymmetric cleavage and then to the larger D cell at the second asymmetric cleavage[…].
gloss: The splitting of a large molecule into smaller ones.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Carotenoid cleavage oxygenases (CCOs) are a class of enzymes that oxidatively cleave carotenoids into apocarotenoids. Carotenoid cleavage oxygenases have been identified in plants and animals and produce a wide range of cleavage products. […] Two of the three enzymes showed cleavage of β, β-carotene at the 9,10 and 15,15' position, respectively.
gloss: The tendency of a crystal to split along specific planes; schistosity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Notice that cleavage has nothing to do with imperfections in the crystal. Indeed, if you try cleaving an imperfect crystal, you may find that it cannot be cleaved as well as a perfect one. The cleavage is the result of the orderliness of the atomic arrangement. No wonder imperfections, which disturb the orderliness, disturb the cleavage as well. You will also note that the cleavage directions are obedient to the symmetry of the crystal.
gloss: The division of voters into voting blocs.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: A voting bloc in Congress can represent a long-standing alliance or can be created anew as a result of the increased saliency of a particular issue, such as war or a severe economic downturn. A division between voting blocs is called a cleavage and because voting blocs are impermanent, dominant cleavages are always changing.
The Kremlin has appointed graduates of the federal "Time of Heroes" programs to high level positions in the Russian federal, regional, and local governments -- likely to militarize Russian society and prevent veterans from becoming a disenfranchised political cleavage that could pose a risk to the Kremlin’s regime security.
Related words: cleave
cleft
décolletage
spathic
Derived words: autocleavage
beavage
breast cleavage
builder's cleavage
bum cleavage
butt cleavage
buttock cleavage
cleavaged
cleavage furrow
cleavage tape
endocleavage
gender cleavage
metacleavage
microcleavage
miscleavage
orthocleavage
paracleavage
photocleavage
plumber's cleavage
postcleavage
precleavage
pseudocleavage
recleavage
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: деление
roman: delenie
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 卵裂
roman: luǎnliè
lang: Dutch
word: deling
lang: Dutch
word: celdeling
lang: Finnish
word: solun jakautuminen
lang: French
word: division
lang: German
word: Furchung
lang: German
word: Zellteilung
lang: German
word: Teilung
lang: Hungarian
word: sejtosztódás
lang: Italian
word: segmentazione
lang: Japanese
word: 卵割
roman: rankatsu
lang: Korean
word: 난할
roman: nanhal
lang: Korean
word: 알갈림
roman: alkallim
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: şeqbûn
lang: Macedonian
word: делба
roman: delba
lang: Polish
word: podział
lang: Portuguese
word: clivagem
lang: Russian
word: деле́ние
roman: delénije
lang: Spanish
word: división