To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
The wings cleaved the foggy air.
2
To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
3
To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
The truck cleaved a path through the ice.
4
To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.