Forms: 1–7 clif, 3 clef, 4–5 clife, clyff(e, clyf(e, (4 kliffe, klyffe, klyfe, 5 cleyff), 4–7 cliffe, 7– cliff. β. 2–6 (properly dative) cliue, pl. (1 cleofu, clifu), 2–6 cliues, (clyues), 3–4 cliuen, clyuen. Also 5–9 CLIFT. [OE. clif neut., pl. clifu, orig. cleofu (with u fracture of i) = OS. kliƀ (MLG., LG. clif, clef, MDu. clif, clef, pl. clēve, Du. clif), OHG. kleb, ON. klif:—OTeut. *kliƀo-(m). The early ME. forms were sing. nom. clif, gen. clĭves, dat. clĭve, pl. clĭves; levelling gave also nom. sing. clĭve (see β below), and pl. cliffes, whence mod. cliffs. On the type of the original pl. cleofu, there arose also a sing. cleof, whence clef, cleef, clefe, mod. CLEVE, CLEEVE, q.v. In 15th c., cliff was confused with clift, original form of CLEFT, and very commonly so spelt, esp. from the 16th c. this is still dialectal and vulgar: see CLIFT.]
1. A perpendicular or steep face of rock of considerable height. Usually implying that the strata are broken and exposed in section; an escarpment.
854. Charter Æthelwolf, in Cod. Dipl., V. 105. Of Wulfheres cumbe on Wulfheres clif.
c. 1205. Lay., 1926. Nu & æuer mare haueð þat clif [1275 clef] þare nome on ælche leode.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter cxiii[i]. 8. Kliffes [L. rupem] in welles of watres to gane.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 74. Dubbed wern alle þo downez sydez With crystal klyffez.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 17590 (Laud MS.). Hym to seche in clyffe & clow.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2013. He hade … for-sett … Bothe the clewez and the clyfez with clene mene of armez [ibid., 2019 cleyffez].
1515. Barclay, Egloges, IV. (1570), C vj/3. A mountayne of highnes maruelous, With pendant cliffes of stones harde as flent.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 424. There the Eagle and the Stork On Cliffs and Cedar tops thir Eyries build.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 38. Goats … clamber among the cliffs of Plinlimmon.
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 12. Cheddar Cliffs are the sides of a chasm, extending across one of the highest ridges of the Mendip Hills.
b. esp. (in modern use) A perpendicular face of rock on the seashore, or (less usually) overhanging a lake or river.
α. a. 1000. Andreas, 310 (Gr.). Ofer cald cleofu ceoles neosan.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 159. I seȝ by-ȝonde þat myry mere A crystal clyffe ful relusaunt.
1387. Trevisa, Descr. Brit. (Caxton), 4. Whan shipmen passen the next clyf of that londe.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 101. As farre as I could ken thy Chalky Cliffes, When from thy Shore, the Tempest beate vs backe, I stood vpon the Hatches in the storme. Ibid. (1605), Lear, IV. i. 76. There is a cliff whose high and bending head Looks fearfully in the confined deep.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., iv. (1628), 99. The cut off or broken mountaines on the sea sides, are more rightly and properly called clifs, then by the name of rocks or hills.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 117, ¶ 6. Diverting our selves upon the Top of the Cliff with the Prospect of the Sea.
1793. Wordsw., Descr. Sk., 204. The wood-crowned cliffs that o’er the lake recline.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xvi. 263. The white cliffs which could be seen from Calais.
Mod. The Wyndcliff towers above the Wye.
β. sing. clĭve (properly dative), pl. clĭves. (The Elizabethan archaists made it clīves.)
c. 1205. Lay., 21807. Þer heo leieien ȝeond þa cliues. Ibid., 32217. Ȝeond cludes & ȝeond cliuenen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1856 (Gött.). Oft wend þai þar schip suld riue wid wind or wawe or dint or cliue.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 2278. Him to a castel þai han idriue, Þat stant be þe se vpon a cliue.
a. 1541. Wyatt, The faithful lover giveth, etc., Poet. Wks., 57. To seek each where where man doth live The sea, the land, the rock, the clive.
1567. Turberv., Myrr. Fall Pride (R.). Whome forceth he by surge of seas into Charybdes cliues [rhyme-wd. driues]?
1587. Myrr. Mag., Albanact, xliii. At length the shyning Albion clyues did feede Their gazing eyes.
† 2. (Extension of 1 b): Land adjacent to a sea or lake; shore, coast, strand. Obs.
a. 1000. Beowulf, 3826. Þæt hie Geata clifu ongitan meahton.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 1790. Hii come to the cliue Thar the wilde se was.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 45. From þe clyue of occean [littore oceani] in Ethiopia. Ibid., I. 65 (Mätz.). In þe west clif [in occidentali littore] of litel Bretayne. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., VII. lxvi. (1495), 282. Serpentes … whyche ben nyghe clyffes and bankes of waters.
1480. Caxton, Descr. Brit., 3. White rockes aboute the cliues of the see.
1600. Tourneur, Transf. Met., Author to Bk. O were thy margents cliffes of itching lust.
3. A steep slope, a declivity, a hill; = CLEVE 3. (In Lincolnshire, the sloping and cultivated escarpment of the oolite is called the Cliff.)
[In this sense mediæval etymologists naturally identified clive with L. clīvus, with which it had no connection.]
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 347. To-ȝeanes þe cliue aȝean þe heȝe hulle.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Hwile uppen cliues and hwile in þe dales.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 5429. The othere part away hy dryuen Into dales and into clyuen.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XII. 278. Nor clyves ther humoure is not excluse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 81. Clyffe or an hylle [1499 clefe of an hyll], declivum.
1483. Cath. Angl., 67. A Cliffe, cliuus.
1632. Le Grys, trans. Velleius Paterc., 66. He flying and running downe the cliffe of the Capitoll.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., II. 165. The base of the Cliff line of hills.
1870. Dasent, Annals Eventful Life (ed. 4), III. xi. 205–6. We went straight up the clive—the slope that leads through the Propylæa.
4. The strata of rock lying above or between coal seams.
1676. Beaumont, in Phil. Trans., XI. 732. All the clifts in some Mines are made up of these Stone-plants.
1719. Strachey, Strata Coal-M., ibid. XXX. 968. The Cliff … is dark or blackish Rock, and always keeps its regular Course as the Coal does, lying obliquely over it.
1721. Bradley, Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat., 7–8. A dark or blackish Rock, which they call the Coal Clives.… The Cliff over this Vein is variegated with Cockle-Shells and Fern Branches.
5. Comb., as cliff-dweller, -face, -side, swallow; cliff-chafed, -girdled, -like, -marked, -worn adjs.; cliff-pink, the Cheddar Pink, Dianthus cæsius.
1839–48. Bailey, Festus, xxvii. 327. A *cliff-chafed sea.
1884. Chamb. Jrnl., 19 Jan., 40/2. The houses of the *cliff-dwellers.
1869. Phillips, Vesuvius, viii. 203. *Cliff-girdled lakes.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, 1st Visit Eng., Wks. (Bohn), II. 6. Carlyle … was tall and gaunt, with a *cliff-like brow.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., *Cliff-pink, or Cleve-pink, Dianthus cæsius.
1886. Rudyard Kipling, Departm. Ditties (ed. 2), 62. The hawk nests on the *cliffside.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess. Manners, Wks. (Bohn), I. 204. The rock-Tibboos still dwell in caves, like *cliff-swallows.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. cviii. Before the entrance of a *cliff-worn cave.
Cliff, -e, obs. form of CLEF1.
