a. [ad. L. clāvāt-us, pa. pple. of clāvāre to stud with nails or knobs (cf. Pliny H. N. IX. 36. ‘genus concharum clavatum’), f. clāvus nail. In sense 2 taken as f. clāva club (a doubtful Latin use).]
† 1. Studded with nails or knobs, knobbed. Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Introd. Fishes … clavate, spinose, rough.
2. Chiefly Zool. and Bot. Club-shaped; thickened towards the apex like a club.
1813. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (ed. 4), III. 126. Of the Silphæ, or Carrion Beetles…. Their antennæ are clavate, and the club is perfoliate.
1835. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (1868), I. 342. The filament … is thickest at the upper end, or clavate.
