One who cleaves, or that which cleaves; especially, a butcher's instrument for cutting animal bodies into joints or pieces.

A large knife with a triangular blade, used for chopping or dicing.

A butcher's implement for cutting animal carcasses into pieces.

a butcher's knife having a large square blade

a broad-bladed chopper available in many sizes and types

a large form of knife

See hatchet.

A type of knife with a large, square blade (usually 6" to 8" long) that is sturdy enough to cut cleanly through a chicken, roast or thick steak. The side of the wide blade also is useful for crushing garlic and herbs or for tenderizing meats.

The knife used to do most of all cutting in Chinese cooking. Usually a lighter, thinner cleaver is used for slicing and chopping meats and vegetables. The heavier cleaver is used to cut through bone.

Broad-bladed chopper available in many sizes and types. Cleavers are inexpensive and take only a little practice to use efficiently. Steel cleavers need to be wrapped in an oiled cloth to prevent them from rusting; keep them razor sharp by sharpening on an oilstone.

A cleaver, in descriptive geology, and in mountaineering on and near glaciers, is a ridge of rock that separates a unified flow of glacial ice from its uphill side into two glaciers flanking, and flowing parallel to, the ridge. (As a meat cleaver separates meat into smaller pieces, such a cleaver divides or cleaves the continuous flow from above into two distinct flows.) A cleaver may be thought of as analogous to an island in a river.

A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a square-bladed hatchet. It is used mostly for cutting through bones as a kitchen utensil.