grave - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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.

A freshly dug grave

grave (countable and uncountable, plural graves)

  1. (strictly) An excavation in the earth as a place of burial.
    Synonyms: plot, lot; see also Thesaurus:grave
    Coordinate terms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
    • 1856, Gustave Flaubert, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, 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. (loosely) Any place of interment.
    Hyponyms: burial chamber, sepulchre, vault
  3. (very loosely) Any place containing one or more corpses.
  4. (uncountable, by extension) Death, destruction.
    • a. 1769, unknown, The Cuckoo‎[2], archived from the original on 26 September 2019, lines 9–12:
      […] Meeting is pleasure, parting is a grief; / An inconstant lover is worse than a thief; / A thief can but rob you, and take all you have, / An inconstant lover will bring you to the grave! […]
  5. (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."

excavation for burial — see also tomb

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”).

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.
    • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎[3], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
      Deep lines were graven on her pale forehead, and on her wan, thin cheeks.
    • a. 1894, 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.
    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.

to carve letters or similar

to carve to give a shape

to impress on the mind

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

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[4]:
      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.

having a sense of seriousness

low in pitch, tone

serious in a negative sense

grave (plural graves)

  1. A grave accent, the diacritic mark `.

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”)).

grave (plural graves)

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

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.

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.

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

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)

See grav (“grave, tomb, pit”). Related with etymology 1 above.

grave c

  1. indefinite plural of grav

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

grave

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

grave

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

grave

  1. seriously, gravely

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

grave (plural graves)

  1. serious
  2. solemn
  3. low-pitched
    Antonym: aigu
  4. (phonetics) back
    • 1911, Diran Kélékian, “grave”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎[5], 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

grave

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

grave

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

Inherited from Latin gravis. Doublet of greve.

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

grave

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of gravis

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

grave (plural graves)

  1. grave, burial
  2. tomb, mausoleum

grave

  1. alternative form of gravey

grave

  1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of greyve

grave

  1. (Early Middle English) alternative form of grove

grave

  1. alternative form of graven

From Old French grave.

grave f (plural graves)

  1. gravel

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

grāve m

  1. count, local judge

Declension of grāve (weak masculine)

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

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

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).

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

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

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

  1. alternative form of grava

From 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-.

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

  1. gravel

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

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

  1. serious; grave (having possible severe negative consequences)
    Synonyms: sério, severo
    Sofria de uma doença grave.
    He suffered from a serious disease.
  2. (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.
  3. 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.
  4. (physics) that falls down; that doesn’t float
    O balão não é um corpo grave.
    Balloons are not a falling body.

grave m (plural graves)

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

grave

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

Unadapted borrowing from Italian grave.

grave

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

grave

  1. grave

Old Spanish grave

Spanish grave

Inherited from Old Spanish grave, from Latin gravis. Cf. also the attested Old Spanish form grieve, from Early Medieval Latin grevis, which was more common in other Romance-speaking areas.[1]

grave m or f (masculine and feminine plural graves, superlative gravísimo)

  1. serious, grave
    Synonym: serio
    • 2023 August 22, Jamie Gumbrecht, “La FDA aprueba la primera vacuna para proteger a los recién nacidos del virus respiratorio sincitial”, in CNN en Español‎[7]:
      Seis meses después del nacimiento, la vacuna tenía una eficacia del 69% para prevenir la enfermedad grave por RSV y del 51% para prevenir una visita al médico por problemas respiratorios relacionados con el RSV.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. bass (sound)
    Synonym: bajo
    Antonym: agudo
  3. solemn
    Synonym: solemne
  4. (phonetics) paroxytone; stressed in the penultimate syllable
    Synonym: llano
    Coordinate terms: agudo, esdrújulo, sobresdrújulo

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

grave

  1. inflection of gravar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
  1. ^ Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1983–1991), “grave”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎[1] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

grave

  1. definite natural masculine singular of grav

From Old Frisian grava, from Proto-West Germanic *graban, from Proto-Germanic *grabaną.

grave

  1. to dig
Strong class 6
infinitive grave
3rd singular past groef
past participle groeven
infinitive grave
long infinitive graven
gerund graven n
auxiliary hawwe
indicative present tense past tense
1st singular graaf groef
2nd singular graafst groefst
clitic form graafsto groefsto
3rd singular graaft groef
plural grave groeven
imperative graaf
participles gravend groeven