cloverleaf

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From clover +‎ leaf.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkləʊvəliːf/
  • (US) enPR: klōʹvər-lēf, IPA(key): /ˈkloʊvɚliːf/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

cloverleaf (not comparable)

  1. In the form of the leaf of a clover plant; cloverleafed.

Translations

Noun

cloverleaf (plural cloverleafs or cloverleaves) (see individual senses for plurals)

  1. (with plural cloverleaves) The leaf of a clover plant.
  2. (US) (with plural cloverleafs or cloverleaves) A cloverleaf interchange.
    • 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:
      By the time we got into Tulsa Town
      We had eighty-five trucks in all
      But there's a roadblock up on the cloverleaf
      And them bears was wall-to-wall.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

cloverleaf (third-person singular simple present cloverleafs, present participle cloverleafing, simple past and past participle cloverleafed)

  1. (intransitive) To turn by following a cloverleaf, or as if by following one.
    • 2003, David Maraniss, They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967:
      Hay told a military historian that Allen precipitated “the debacle” by “allowing his lead company to pursue the VC down the trail” instead of forming a perimeter and cloverleafing at the first sign of the enemy.