Definition of "clove" []

• An evergreen tree (Syzygium aromaticum) native to the Moluccas and widely cultivated in warm regions for its aromatic dried flower buds. (noun)
• A flower bud of this plant, used whole or ground as a spice. Often used in the plural. (noun)
• One of the small sections of a separable bulb, as that of garlic. (noun)
• A past tense of cleave1. (verb)
• Archaic A past participle of cleave1. (verb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term clove bark has been applied to the barks of two different trees belonging to the natural order _Laurineæ_."
• "The clove is native to the far east of Indonesia, yet somehow these cloves found their way to ancient Mesopotamia."
• "The garlic then pops free of the skin, the root end can be cut or broken off easily, and the clove is pre-flattened for convenient mincing."