cleft

adj

1. split, divided, or partially divided into two.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English clift, from Old English ġeclyft, from Proto-West Germanic *klufti, from Proto-Germanic *kluftiz, equivalent to cleave + -t (“-th”). Compare Dutch klucht (“coarse comedy”), Swedish klyft (“cave, den”), German Kluft. See cleave.

1. An opening, fissure, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting.

   “The river flows through a cleft in the mountains.”

   “Then came some palsied oak, a cleft in him / Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim / Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils.”

2. A piece made by splitting.

   “a cleft of wood”

3. A disease of horses; a crack on the band of the pastern.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of cleave