cloven hoof

American  

noun

1. the figurative indication of Satan or evil temptation.

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cloven hoof British  

noun

1. the divided hoof of a pig, goat, cow, deer, or related animal, which consists of the two middle digits of the foot

2. the mark or symbol of Satan

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Other Word Forms

• cloven-hoofed adjective

Example Sentences

In his short story “Ordeal by Golf,” the narrator declares, “In no other walk of life does the cloven hoof so quickly display itself.”

From The New Yorker • Apr. 3, 2019

Another hog, Julie the Mulie, is another breed, a mulefoot hog, so named because its feet are one hoof, not the split, cloven hoof of most pigs.

From Washington Times • Nov. 29, 2016

Devilish old George Bernard Shaw loved to kick a cloven hoof in the face of convention, complacency and the church.

From Time Magazine Archive

I perceive the cloven hoof of the Ford-Lincoln Motor Co.

From Time Magazine Archive

But one woman woke everybody up at dawn on Wednesday because she found the tracks of a biped with a cloven hoof.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez