Grave

Pronunciation

• enPR: grāv, IPA: /É¡reɪv/
• Rhymes: -eɪv

From Middle English grave, grafe, from Old English græf ("cave, grave, trench"), from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō ("grave, trench, ditch"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- ("to dig, scratch, scrape"). Cognate with Dutch graf ("a grave"), Low German graf ("a grave"), German Grab ("a grave"), Swedish grav ("a grave"), Icelandic gröf ("a grave"). Cognate to Albanian gropë ("a ditch, hole"). Related to groove.

Noun

1. An excavation in the earth as a place of burial; also, any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher.
• unknown date, Gospel of John 11:17:He had lain in the grave four days.
• 1856, Eleanor Marx-Aveling (translator), Gustave Flaubert (author), Madame Bovary, Part III, Chapter X:They reached the cemetery. The men went right down to a place in the grass where a grave was dug. They ranged themselves all round; and while the priest spoke, the red soil thrown up at the sides kept noiselessly slipping down at the corners.
2. death, destruction.

Derived terms

• begrave
• dance on someone's grave
• dig one's own grave
• early grave
• graveclothes
• grave marker
• grave robber
• graverobbing
• gravedigger
• gravelike
• graveside
• gravesite
• gravestone
• graveward
• mass grave
• turn in one's grave
• war grave
• white man's grave

From Middle English graven, from Old English grafan ("to dig, dig up, grave, engrave, carve, chisel"), from Proto-Germanic *grabaną ("to dig"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- ("to dig, scratch, scrape"). Cognate with Dutch graven ("to dig"), German graben ("to dig"), Swedish gräva ("to dig").

Full definition of grave

Verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To dig.
• unknown date Book of Prayer, Psalms 7:16:He hath graven and digged up a pit.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
• Exodus 28:9:Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel.
• 1872 , James De Mille , The Cryptogram Chapter , Deep lines were graven on her pale forehead, and on her wan, thin cheeks.
• unknown date Robert Louis Stevenson, Requiem:This be the verse you grave for me
  "Here he lies where he longs to be"
3. (transitive, obsolete) To carve out or give shape to, by cutting with a chisel; to sculpture; as, to grave an image.
• unknown date Geoffrey Chaucer:With gold men may the hearte grave.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To impress deeply (on the mind); to fix indelibly.
• unknown date Matthew Prior:O! may they graven in thy heart remain.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To entomb; to bury.
• unknown date, William Shakespeare:Lie full low, graved in the hollow ground.
6. (transitive, obsolete, nautical) To clean, as a vessel's bottom, of barnacles, grass, etc., and pay it over with pitch — so called because graves or greaves was formerly used for this purpose.
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To write or delineate on hard substances, by means of incised lines; to practice engraving.

From French grave, from Latin gravis ("heavy, important").

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Influential, important; authoritative. 16th-18th c.
• 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.7:An illiterate fool sits in a mans seat; and the common people hold him learned, grave, and wise.
2. Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; not cheerful, sombre. from 16th c.
3. Low in pitch, tone etc. from 17th c.
• unknown date Moore, Encyclopedia of Music:''The thicker the cord or string, the more grave is the note or tone.
4. Serious, in a negative sense; important, formidable. from 19th c.

Synonyms

• (unsorted by sense) solemn, sober, serious, sage, staid, demure, thoughtful, sedate, weighty, momentous, important

Noun

1. A written accent used in French, Italian, and other languages. è is an e with a grave accent.