Cleavage

Cleavage

(1): (n.) Division into laminae, like slate, with the lamination not necessarily parallel to the plane of deposition; - usually produced by pressure.

(2): (n.) The quality possessed by many crystallized substances of splitting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting.

(3): (n.) The act of cleaving or splitting.