Forms: 4–6 clow(e, (5 clawe, ? clewe, cloyfe, pl. cloys), 5–7 cloue, (6 cloaue, pl. close), 6– clove. [ME. clow(e, a. F. clou, in full clou de girofle, ‘girofle nail’ (see CLOVE-GILLYFLOWER), clou being a popular addition to the original name girofle, from the resemblance of a single bud of the girofle, with its stalk, to a nail, clou, L. clāvus. In Sp. it is clavo, Pg. cravo.
The phonetic history of the word in English contains points of difficulty. Originally clowe, cloue was, like the Fr., undoubtedly (klū), which would in due course have become clow. It is surmised that in the 15–16th-c. spelling cloue, u was taken to mean v, as in moue, loue, etc. (cf. APPROVE v.2); but it is not known how such a change in the spoken word occurred as to give the modern pronunciation, which is perh. already indicated by the 15th-c. spelling cloyfe (= clōve), is suggested by the pl. close in 1555, and is implied in the Shaks. quot. of 1588.]
1. The dried flower bud of Caryophyllus aromaticus, much used as a pungent aromatic spice. (Usually in pl.)
Oil of cloves, an essential oil obtained from the buds and flower-stalks of the clove-tree, and used in medicine.
1225–1400. [see CLOVE-GILLYFLOWER 1].
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxxix. (Tollem. MS.). Clowes ben calde Gariophili, and ben perfyte frute with scharpe sauoure.
1401. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 208. Et in ij unc. cloys empt. 12d.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 44. Cast powder of peper and clawes [elsewhere clowes] þer to.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 84. Clowe, spyce, gariofolus.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. x. 90. Other trees there growe … whiche bere cloues.
a. 1500. Nominale, in Wr.-Wülcker, 714/1. Hic gariofilus, a cloyfe.
1538. Turner, Libellus, A. iij b. Cariophillon quod aliqui clauum uel clauos uocant … angli uocant Clowes.
1555. in W. H. Turner, Select Rec. Oxford, 226. For close and mase … xiiijd.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 654. B. A Lemmon. L. Stucke with Cloues. D. No clouen.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Size, ii. What though some have a fraught Of cloves and nutmegs.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 108. A Drop or two of Oil of Cloves on Cotton.
fig. 1645. Milton, Colast., Wks. (1851), 348. A Divine of note … stuck it heer and there with a clove of his own Calligraphy, to keep it from tainting.
† b. Transl. of Gr. ὄνυξ, L. ungula. Obs.
1535. Coverdale, Ecclus. xxiv. 15 (21). I haue made my dwellinges to smell as it were of rosyn, Galbanum, of Clowes [ὄνυξ, ungula, 1611 onix] and Incense.
2. The tree, Caryophyllus aromaticus, originally a native of the Moluccas, but now cultivated in various tropical countries. (More fully clove-tree.)
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., V. xi. (ed. 7), 554. The Clove tree groweth in the Iles of Moluccas.
1693. Sir T. P. Blount, Nat. Hist., 54. The CLOVE-Tree groweth in Form much like to our Bay-Tree, the Bark of an Olive Colour.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 348. The clove is a handsome tree.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 214. Amboyna was fixed upon for the exclusive growth of the clove.
1876. Harley, Mat. Med., 611. The Clove is an elegant evergreen shrub.
3. Wild clove (-tree): Eugenia (Pimenta) acris, of the West Indies.
1866. Treas. Bot., 300.
4. Cloves. † a. ? = clove bark (see 6). Obs.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 261. The Bark they call Cloves, us’d for dressing of Meat, and dying.
b. A cordial consisting of spirits strongly flavored with the spice.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxiii. The house has not done so much in the stomachic article of cloves … since the Inquest.
5. Short for clove-pink, or clove-gillyflower.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1758), I. 129. Who teaches the Clove to stay; till hotter Beams are prepared, to infuse a spicy Richness into her Odours; and tincture her Complexion with the deepest Crimson?
1882. Garden, 13 May, 324/2. We begin to enjoy our Cloves and Carnations out-of-doors.
6. Comb. clove-bark, the bark of Cinnamomum Culilawan, which has a flavor of cloves; † clove-basil, an old name of Ocymum basilicum, so called from its smell (Gerarde, 1597); † clove-carnation = clove-pink; clove-cassia, -cinnamon, the bark of Dicypellium caryophyllatum; clove-nutmeg, the fruit of Agathophyllum aromaticum, a native of Madagascar; clove-pink, a clove-scented species of Dianthus: see CLOVE-GILLYFLOWER; clove-root, a name for Herb Bennet, Geum urbanum; † clove-stuck a., stuck with cloves.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1698), I. xi. 316. They have plenty of *clove bark, of which I saw a Ship-load.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4146/4. Clove Bark 4 Bales.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vii. (1641), 60/1. Anon his nose is pleased with fragrant sents of … *Clove-Carnation.
1866. Treas. Bot., 229. The *clove-pink is the origin of all the cultivated varieties of carnations, as picotees, bizarres, and flakes. Ibid., s.v. Geum, The root of this plant [G. urbanum], called by the old herbalists *Clove-root, has an aromatic clove-like odour.
1599. Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vii. 206. That Westphalian gamon *Cloue-stuck face.
