Clevis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A fastening tool characterized by its U-shaped structure, which contains an opening for a securing pin or bolt used in various mechanical and rigging tasks
2. This apparatus functions as a connector, typically made of metal, with a loop and a pin to hold parts firmly together in industrial settings
3. A metal fitting shaped like the letter U with holes to accept a pin that secures two components tightly together

Etymology: The clevis is a metal connector with a U-shaped loop and a pin, used to join parts in machinery and rigging, and its name is probably a form of "cleave," the verb meaning "to split." Its first recorded appearance in English dates to the 1590s, and the word may have arrived from Scandinavian sources, where Old Norse "kljúfa" meant "to split" and "klofi" meant "a forked stick." The exact route is uncertain, so the link to "cleave" rests on probability rather than proof. The connection to splitting makes sense for a device built around a fork-shaped loop, where the two prongs of the metal seem to split apart around the object they grip. The word is one of several English terms that share the same root idea, and the shape it describes is what the old sense of the verb captured.

Synonyms: clamp, fastener, connector