clavis

From Latin clāvis (“a key”). Doublet of clave and clef.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkleɪ.vɪs/, /ˈklɑv.ɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -eɪvɪs
• Rhymes: -ævɪs

clavis (plural clavises or claves)

1. (archaeology) A Roman key.

   Synonym: key

   • 1873, “Proceedings of the Association”, in Journal of the British Archaeological Association‎^[1], volume 29, April 9th, page 202:

     Iron clavis, the solid web-shaped at the edges to fit the wards in the lock, and having a pointed broach and a kite-formed looped haft.

2. A device for restraint of the hands.

   Synonym: shackles

   • 1904, B. O. Flower, “Editorials”, in B. O. Flower, editor, The Arena‎^[2], volume 32, VI. Dr. Bell shows how hopeless insanity was a fruit of public parsimony, page 540, column 2:

     His hands were restrained by means of a clavis and bolt (of iron), appropriated to each wrist, and united by a padlock.

3. Synonym of glossary: a key to the meaning of various terms.
   • 1784 July 12, William Cowper, “To the Rev. William Unwin.”, in Robert Southey, editor, The Works of William Cowper, with a Life of the Author‎^[3], volume 5, published 1836, page 54:

     Homer, with a clavis, I have had possession of some years.

4. (taxonomy) A key; an identification guide; a series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.

   Synonyms: identification guide, conspectus, key

   • 1921, Alexander Irvine, “Short Notes: Rosa spinosissima×rubiginosa×f. cantiana, forma nova”, in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, volume 59, number 702, page 180:

     There are many disadvantages in using a clavis intended for another country, which necessarily includes plants that are absent from our islands while it omits some that are present and neglects the peculiarities of our island flora.

• clavichord

• “clavis”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• Slavic, cavils

clavis

1. second-person singular present subjunctive of clavar

From Proto-Italic *klāwis. Either a secondary i-stem derivation of the Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“nail, pin, hook - instruments, of old use for locking doors”) which gave also Latin clāvus (“nail”), an inherited Indo-European word originally denoting an instrument for unlocking doors, or a loanword from dialectal Ancient Greek *κλᾱϝίς (*klāwís) (Classical κλείς (kleís)), from the same Proto-Indo-European root.^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈklaː.u̯is/, [ˈkɫ̪äːu̯ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkla.vis/, [ˈkläːvis]

clāvis f (genitive clāvis); third declension

1. a key
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 24:

     Post hanc orationem claves portarum pecuniaeque regiae ante pedes eorum posuit.

     After this discourse he laid the keys of the gates and of the royal treasure at their feet.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Iudicum.3.25:

     […] et videntes quod nullus aperiret tulerunt clavem et aperientes invenerunt dominum suum iacentem in terra mortuum

     […] and, behold, he did not open the doors; therefore they took a key and opened [the doors] to enter [but] their lord was lying dead on the ground.

2. Ellipsis of clāvis trochī.: an instrument in the form of a key, by which a top was set in motion
3. a lever or bar for tightening a screw press

   Synonym: clāvis torculārī

   • 234 BCE – 149 BCE, Cato the Elder, De Agri Cultura 13:

     […] seriam vinariam unam, clavem torculari I […]

Not to be confused with clāva (“a staff, cudgel, club”) or clāvus (“a nail”).

Third-declension noun (i-stem, accusative singular in -em or -im, ablative singular in -e or -ī).

• clāva
• clāvus

• “clavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “clavis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• clavis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• clavis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “clavis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “clavis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

clāvīs

1. dative/ablative plural of clāvus

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

clāvīs

1. dative/ablative plural of clāva