- [countable, uncountable]
the dried flower of a tropical tree, used in cooking as a spice, especially in sweet foods. Cloves look like small nails. 丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用于烹饪调味，尤用作甜食的香料） 
- [countable] a garlic clove | a clove of garlic
one of the small separate sections of a bulb (= the round underground part) of garlic 蒜瓣 
Use one crushed clove of garlic. 用一瓣碾碎的大蒜。
Word Originsense 1 Middle English: from Old French clou de girofle, literally ‘nail of gillyflower’ (from its shape), gillyflower being originally the name of the spice and later applied to the similarly scented pink. sense 2 Old English clufu, of Germanic origin, corresponding to the first element of German Knoblauch (altered from Old High German klovolouh), and the base of cleave ‘to split something in two’.