/ kləʊn; NAmE kloʊn/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
( biology ) a plant or an animal that is produced naturally or artificially from the cells of another plant or animal and is therefore exactly the same as it
2.
(sometimes disapproving ) a person or thing that seems to be an exact copy of another
3.
( computing ) a computer designed to work in exactly the same way as another, usually one made by a different company and more expensive
■ verb [ vn ]
1.
to produce an exact copy of an animal or a plant from its cells :
A team from the UK were the first to successfully clone an animal.
Dolly, the cloned sheep
2.
to illegally make an electronic copy of stored information from a person's credit card or mobile phone / cellphone so that you can make payments or phone calls but the owner of the card or phone receives the bill
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WORD ORIGIN
early 20th cent.: from Greek klōn twig.