It is most effectively used to secure a middle section of rope to an object it crosses over,[1]: 213  such as a line on a fencepost.

[1]: 18, 224  It is considered one of the most important knots, alongside the bowline and the sheet bend.

Although the name clove hitch is given by Falconer in his Dictionary of 1769, the knot is much older, having been tied in ratlines at least as early as the first quarter of the sixteenth century.

[3] When tied around a carabiner, the load should pull on the end closest to its spine.

[5] The clove hitch is tied by first passing the running end of the rope around the spar and back over itself to form an X.