Old English clif "rock, promontory, steep slope," from Proto-Germanic *kliban (cognates: Old Saxon clif, Old Norse klif, Middle Dutch klippe, Dutch klip, Old High German klep, German Klippe "cliff, promontory, steep rock").Clift has been a variant spelling since 15c. and was common in early Modern English, influenced by or merged with clift, a variant of cleft, n.. Cliff-dweller first attested 1889, American English.