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grave

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Grave, gravé, gravë, and -grave

English

 grave on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

  • enPR: grāv, IPA(key): /ɡɹeɪv/
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Rhymes: -eɪv
  • (accent, also): IPA(key): /ɡɹɑːv/

Etymology 1

From Middle English grave, grafe, from Old English græf, grafu (“cave, grave, trench”), from Proto-West Germanic *grab, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō (“grave, trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with West Frisian grêf (“grave”), Dutch graf (“grave”), Low German Graf (“a grave”), Graff, German Grab (“grave”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian grav (“grave”), Icelandic gröf (“grave”). Related to groove.

Noun

grave (countable and uncountable, plural graves)

  2. (strictly) An excavation in the earth as a place of burial.
    Synonyms: plot, lot; see also Thesaurus:grave
    Coordinate terms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
  4. (loosely) Any place of interment.
    Hyponyms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
  5. (very loosely) Any place containing one or more corpses.
  6. (uncountable, by extension) Death, destruction.
  7. (by extension, uncountable) Deceased people; the dead.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "Hold your jaw, woman! I've had enough to vex me to-day without you startin' your tantrums. You're jealous of the grave. That's wot's the matter with you." "And her brats can insult me as they like - me that 'as cared for you these five years."
Synonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Sranan Tongo: grebi
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

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 *gʰrebʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”). Cognate with Dutch graven (“to dig”), German graben (“to dig”), Danish grave (“to dig”), Swedish gräva (“to dig”), Icelandic grafa (“to dig”).

Verb

grave (third-person singular simple present graves, present participle graving, simple past graved, past participle graved or graven)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To dig.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To carve out or give shape to, by cutting with a chisel; to sculpture.
    to grave an image
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To impress deeply (on the mind); to fix indelibly.
    • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
      O! may they graven in thy heart remain.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To entomb; to bury.
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To write or delineate on hard substances, by means of incised lines; to practice engraving.
Translations

Etymology 3

    From Middle French grave, a learned borrowing from Latin gravis (“heavy, important”). Compare Old French greve (“terrible, dreadful”). Doublet of grief.

    Adjective

    grave (comparative graver, superlative gravest)

    1. Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; not cheerful. [from 16th c.]
      Synonyms: austere, solemn, sombre; see also Thesaurus:serious
    2. Low in pitch, tone etc. [from 17th c.]
      Antonyms: acute, deep, flat, low-pitched
      • 1854, John Weeks Moore, Encyclopedia of Music:
        The thicker the cord or string, the more grave is the note or tone.
    3. Serious, in a negative sense; important, formidable. [from 19th c.]
      Synonyms: serious, momentous, important; see also Thesaurus:important
      • 2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National‎:
        Israel’s behaviour is doing grave damage to the Palestinian people and to any hope for peace.
      • 2017, Vladimir Shlapentokh, A Normal Totalitarian Society, page 80:
        Khrushchev made a grave miscalculation when he failed to appreciate the growing opposition to his power and overestimated the support of his bureaucracy.
    4. (phonology, dated, of a sound) Dull, produced in the middle or back of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )
      Coordinate term: acute
    5. (obsolete) Influential, important; authoritative. [16th–18th c.]
      Synonyms: magisterial, masterful, oracular, sterling
      • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 7:
        An illiterate fool sits in a mans seat; and the common people hold him learned, grave, and wise.
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Noun

    grave (plural graves)

    1. A grave accent, the diacritic mark `.
    Translations

    Etymology 4

    Inherited from Middle English greyve. Doublet of graaf (borrowed from the Dutch cognate graaf (“count, earl”)) and graf (borrowed from the German cognate Graf (“count, earl”)).

    Noun

    grave (plural graves)

    1. (historical) A count, prefect, or person holding office.

    Etymology 5

    Verb

    grave (third-person singular simple present graves, present participle graving, simple past and past participle graved)

    1. (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 were formerly used for this purpose.

    Etymology 6

    Noun

    grave (plural graves)

    1. (obsolete) A kilogram.
      • 1899, John Sturgeon Mackay, Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical, page 117:
        At the origin of the metric system the new unit of weight was called the grave, and was equivalent to the kilogram. The denomination grave would in some respects have been preferable to kilogram.

    Anagrams

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    Danish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ɡraːvə/, [ˈɡ̊ʁɑːvə]

    Etymology 1

    From Italian grave, from Latin gravis (“heavy, grave”).

    Adverb

    grave

    1. (music) grave (low in pitch, tone etc.)
    2. accent grave – accent grave, grave accent

    Etymology 2

    From Old Norse grafa (“to dig, bury”), from Proto-Germanic *grabaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”).

    Verb

    grave (imperative grav, infinitive at grave, present tense graver, past tense gravede, perfect tense har gravet)

    1. dig (to move hard-packed earth out of the way)
    Derived terms
    digging

    Etymology 3

    See grav (“grave, tomb, pit”).

    Noun

    grave c

    1. indefinite plural of grav
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    Dutch

    Pronunciation

    Verb

    grave

    1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of graven

    Anagrams

    Esperanto

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈɡrave/
    • Rhymes: -ave
    • Hyphenation: gra‧ve

    Adverb

    grave

    1. seriously, gravely

    French

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Inherited from Middle French grave, borrowed from Latin gravis. Doublet of grief.

    Adjective

    grave (plural graves)

    1. serious
    2. solemn
    3. low-pitched
      Antonym: aigu
    4. (phonetics) back
      • 1911, Diran Kélékian, “grave”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, Quelques mots sur la pronunciation des lettres Turques:
        Quatre de ces voyelles sont graves: a, o, u, œu.
        Four of these are vowels are back [vowels], a, o, u, [and] œu
    Derived terms
    Descendants
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: grave

    Adverb

    grave

    1. (informal, slang) much; a lot
      Je te kiffe grave !
      I love you like crazy!

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    grave

    1. inflection of graver:
      1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
      2. second-person singular imperative

    Further reading

    Anagrams

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    Italian

    Etymology

    Inherited from Latin gravis. Doublet of greve.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈɡra.ve/
    • Rhymes: -ave
    • Hyphenation: grà‧ve

    Adjective

    grave m or f by sense (plural gravi, superlative gravissimo)

    1. grave, serious
      un grave problema
      a serious problem
    2. heavy
    3. solemn
    4. (music) low-pitched, low-pitch

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Descendants

    Anagrams

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    Latin

    Adjective

    grave

    1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of gravis

    References

    • "grave", in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "grave", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • "grave", in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎
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    Middle English

    Etymology 1

    From the dative of Old English græf, from Proto-West Germanic *grab, from Proto-Germanic *grabą.

    Alternative forms

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈɡraːv(ə)/, /ˈɡrav(ə)/, /ˈɡraf/

    Noun

    grave (plural graves)

    1. grave, burial
    2. tomb, mausoleum
    Derived terms
    Descendants
    References

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    grave

    1. alternative form of gravey

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    grave

    1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of greyve

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    grave

    1. (Early Middle English) alternative form of grove

    Etymology 5

    Verb

    grave

    1. alternative form of graven
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    Middle French

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    From Old French grave.

    Noun

    grave f (plural graves)

    1. gravel

    Descendants

    References

    • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (grave)

    Middle High German

    Etymology

    Inherited from Old High German grāfo, grāvo, grāfio, grāvio (“count, local judge”).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): (before 13th CE) /ˈɡraːvə/, /ˈɡraːfə/
    • Audio:(file)

    Noun

    grāve m

    1. count, local judge

    Declension

    Declension of grāve (weak masculine)
    More information singular, plural ...

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    References

    • “grâve” Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Wilhelm Müller, and Friedrich Zarncke. Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke. Vol. 1. S. Hirzel, 1863.
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    Norwegian Bokmål

    Etymology 1

    From Old Norse grafa, from Proto-Germanic *grabaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”).

    Verb

    grave (imperative grav, present tense graver, passive graves, simple past gravde or grov, past participle gravd, present participle gravende)

    1. to dig
      grave ut ― to excavate

    Etymology 2

    From French grave (“serious, low-pitched; back”), from Middle French grave, from Old French grave, from Latin gravis (“heavy, grave, serious”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”), from *gʷreh₂- (“heavy”) + *-us (forms adjectives).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    grave m (definite singular graven, indefinite plural graver, definite plural gravene)

    1. only used in accent grave (“grave accent”)

    References

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    Norwegian Nynorsk

    Verb

    grave (present tense grev, past tense grov, past participle grave, passive infinitive gravast, present participle gravande, imperative grav)

    1. alternative form of grava

    Derived terms

    Old French

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    Medieval Latin grava, from Gaulish *grawa, *growa, from Proto-Celtic *grāwā, related to Cornish grow (“gravel”), Breton grouan, and Welsh gro (“gravel”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰr-eu-d-.

    Noun

    grave oblique singular, f (oblique plural graves, nominative singular grave, nominative plural graves)

    1. gravel

    Descendants

    References

    • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (grave)

    Portuguese

    Pronunciation

     
     

    Etymology 1

    From Old Galician-Portuguese grave, from Latin gravis (“heavy; grave”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us.

    Adjective

    grave m or f (plural graves, comparable, comparative mais grave, superlative o mais grave or gravíssimo)

    2. serious; grave (having possible severe negative consequences)
      Synonyms: sério, severo
      Sofria de uma doença grave.
      He suffered from a serious disease.
    4. (of sound) low-pitched; grave (low in pitch or tone)
      Synonym: baixo
      Antonym: agudo
      O som da tuba é mais grave do que o do trombone.
      The sound of the tuba has a lower pitch than that of the trombone.
    6. grave; serious; sombre; austere; solemn (characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness)
      Synonyms: sério, austero, circunspecto, sisudo, solene
      O programa tinha um tom grave.
      The program had a serious tone.
    8. (physics) that falls down; that doesn’t float
      O balão não é um corpo grave.
      Balloons are not a falling body.
    Derived terms

    Noun

    grave m (plural graves)

    1. (music) a low-pitched note
    2. (physics) a body that falls down

    Etymology 2

    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Verb

    grave

    1. inflection of gravar:
      1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
      2. third-person singular imperative

    Further reading

    Romanian

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from Italian grave.

    Adjective

    grave

    1. inflection of grav:
      1. genitive/dative feminine singular/plural
      2. nominative/accusative neuter plural

    Adverb

    grave

    1. grave

    Spanish

    Swedish

    West Frisian

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