grave
see also: Grave
Pronunciation Noun

grave (plural graves)

  1. An excavation in the earth as a place of burial
    • , 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. Any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher.
  3. (by extension) Death, destruction.
Related terms Translations Verb

grave (graves, present participle graving; past graved, past participle graved)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To dig.
    • Book of Prayer, Psalms 7:16:
      He hath graven and digged up a pit.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
    • Book of Exodus 28:9:
      Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel.
    • 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
    • :
      With gold men may the hearte grave.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To impress deeply (on the mind); to fix indelibly.
    • :
      O! may they graven in thy heart remain.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To entomb; to bury.
    • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act III, Scene ii:
      […] And lie full low, graved in the hollow ground.
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To write or delineate on hard substances, by means of incised lines; to practice engraving.
Related terms Translations Translations Translations
  • French: graver
  • Italian: imprimere
  • Russian: производи́ть впечатле́ние
  • Spanish: grabar
Adjective

grave (comparative graver, superlative gravest)

  1. Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; not cheerful. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: sober, solemn, sombre, sedate, serious, staid
  2. Low in pitch, tone etc. [from 17th c.]
    Antonyms: acute
    • 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
  4. (obsolete) Influential, important; authoritative. [16th-18th c.]
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition II, section 3, member 7:
      An illiterate fool sits in a mans seat; and the common people hold him learned, grave, and wise.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations
  • German: respektgebietend, furchtgebietend
  • Italian: opprimente
  • Russian: тяжёлый
  • Spanish: grave, apremiante
Noun

grave (plural graves)

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

grave (plural graves)

  1. (historical) A count, prefect, or person holding office.
Related terms Related terms
Grave
Proper noun
  1. Surname



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary