clive

/ˈklaɪv/

clive means A topographic surname from Old English - someone who lived near a cliff (Old English clif).

clive is pronounced /ˈklaɪv/.

Etymology

From Middle English cliven, from Old English clīfan (“to cleave, adhere, stick”), from Proto-West Germanic *klīban, from Proto-Germanic *klībaną (“to glue, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleybʰ- (“to lubricate, stick”). Cognate with Dutch kleven (“to adhere, stick”), German kleben (“to adhere, stick”), Swedish kliva (“to climb, stalk”), Icelandic klífa (“to climb, ascend”).

name

A topographic surname from Old English - someone who lived near a cliff (Old English clif).
A male given name transferred from the surname, popular in Britain in the mid-twentieth century.e.g.“"I suppose you," she said, "were named for General Clive." "I was. And my father was named for General Brock."” — 1949, Mazo de la Roche, Mary Wakefield, Dundurn Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 132:
A village in Lacombe County, Alberta, Canada.
A city in Dallas County and Polk County, Iowa, United States.
An unincorporated community in Tooele County, Utah, United States.
A town on the Clive River in Hawke's Bay region, New Zealand.
An eastern suburb of Winsford, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England (OS grid ref SJ6766).
A village and civil parish in north Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SJ5124).

verb

To climb; ascend.
To split; separate; cleave; chop.e.g.“After 'frosting' the stone may be 'clived' or split along the bedding planes. Once clived, the thin slabs are dressed for use and sold as Collyweston Slates, for use as tilestones.” — 1990, John Ashurst, Francis G. Dimes, Conservation of building and decorative stone: Volume 1:

noun

Burdock or agrimony.

Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Words closest in meaning

By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.

climb 80% match — To traverse a slope or contour, either upwards (ascending) or downwards (descending). vs clive →
beclimb 74% match — To climb up, ascend. vs clive →
climbingly 67% match — In a climbing manner. vs clive →
declimb 65% match — To climb down. vs clive →
climby 65% match — Characterized by climbing. vs clive →
clambering 64% match — The act of one who clambers. vs clive →
clamber 63% match — To climb (something) with some difficulty, or in a haphazard fashion. vs clive →
climbable 63% match — able to be climbed vs clive →