clover

[kloh-ver] /ˈkloʊ vər/

noun, plural clovers (especially collectively) clover.

any of various plants of the genus Trifolium, of the legume family, having trifoliolate leaves and dense flower heads, many species of which, as T. pratense, are cultivated as forage plants.

any of various plants of allied genera, as melilot.

Idioms

in clover, enjoying luxury or comfort; wealthy or well-off:

They struggled to make their fortune, and now they're in clover.

Origin

before 900; Middle English clovere, Old English clāfre; akin to German Klee

Related forms

clovered, adjective

clovery, adjective

Examples from the web for clover

Farmers used to allow nitrogen fixing plants such as clover in cornfields.
clover honey, for instance, comes from bees that visit only clover flowers.
Horses, experimental subjects of the agriculture department, munch clover in the field outside his window.
Those who duck beneath the boughs encounter a path carpeted with clover and mugwort, traditional healing plants.
It is certainly what keeps many a fiction writer in clover.
Legumes, such as clover and vetch, can be seeded in grazed pastures.
Butter cookies are leaf-shaped, also cut in clover-leaf pattern, these tickled with egg yolk to give a golden hue.
Or he sees the odd tuft of tall fescue or white clover in the pastures, and he knows these plants can be toxic.
Sylphlike, whitetail deer amble into the backyard, cropping a dandelion here and a bit of clover there.
Digging the clover out takes a long time and kills the creeper in the process.

British Dictionary definitions for clover

clover

/ˈkləʊvə/

noun

any plant of the leguminous genus Trifolium, having trifoliate leaves and dense flower heads. Many species, such as red clover, white clover, and alsike, are grown as forage plants

any of various similar or related plants

sweet clover, another name for melilot

pin clover, another name for alfilaria

(informal) in clover, in a state of ease or luxury

Word Origin

Old English clāfre; related to Old High German klēo, Middle Low German klēver, Dutch klāver

Word Origin and History for clover

Old English clafre, clæfre "clover," from Proto-Germanic *klaibron (cf. Old Saxon kle, Middle Low German klever, Middle Dutch claver, Dutch klaver, Old High German kleo, German Klee "clover"), of uncertain origin.

Klein and Liberman write that it is probably from West Germanic *klaiwaz- "sticky pap" (see clay), and Liberman adds, "The sticky juice of clover was the base of the most popular sort of honey." First reference in English to the suposed luck of a four-leaf clover is from c.1500. To be in clover "live luxuriously" is 1710, "clover being extremely delicious and fattening to cattle" [Johnson].

Slang definitions & phrases for clover

clover

Related Terms

in clover, like pigs in clover

clover in Technology

communications, protocol
A protocoll similar to packet radio or AMTOR.
(1995-03-03)

Idioms and Phrases with clover

clover

see: like pigs in clover