Etymology 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.
1
An excavation in the earth as a place of burial.
He had lain in the grave four days.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 11:17:
Let mee not be ashamed, O Lord, for I haue called vpon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the graue.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 31:17:
1 more example
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.1856, Gustave Flaubert, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Madame Bovary, Part III, Chapter X:
2
Broadly Any place of interment.
3
Any place containing one or more corpses.
4
Broadly Death, destruction.
[…]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![…]a. 1769, unknown, The Cuckoo, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2019, lines 9–12:
[…]balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early grave.1973, “Breathe”, in Roger Waters (lyrics), David Gilmour and Richard Wright (music), The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:
5
Broadly Deceased people; the dead.
"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."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:
He hath graven and digged up a pit.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, vij:[16]:
2
Obsolete To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 28:9:
Deep lines were graven on her pale forehead, and on her wan, thin cheeks.1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:
2 more examples
a. 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson, "Requiem" This be the verse you grave for me / "Here he lies where he longs to be"
'It may be so,' I answered; 'but if the loved one prove a broken reed to pierce us, or if the love be loved in vain - what then? Shall a man grave his sorrows upon a stone when he hath but need to write them on the water?'1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
3
Obsolete To carve out or give shape to, by cutting with a chisel; to sculpture.
to grave an image
4
Obsolete To impress deeply (on the mind); to fix indelibly.
O! may they graven in thy heart remain.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):
[…]And lie full low, graved in the hollow ground.1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
6
Obsolete To write or delineate on hard substances, by means of incised lines; to practice engraving.
Etymology From Middle French grave, a learned borrowing from Latin gravis (“heavy, important”). Compare Old French greve (“terrible, dreadful”). Doublet of grief.
1
Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness.
[Mercuti] Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
2
Low in pitch, tone etc.
The thicker the cord or string, the more grave is the note or tone.1854, John Weeks Moore, Encyclopedia of Music:
3
Serious, in a negative sense; important, formidable.
Israel’s behaviour is doing grave damage to the Palestinian people and to any hope for peace.2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National:
Khrushchev made a grave miscalculation when he failed to appreciate the growing opposition to his power and overestimated the support of his bureaucracy.2017, Vladimir Shlapentokh, A Normal Totalitarian Society, page 80:
4
Human sciences, Linguistics, Phonology, SciencesDated, Of a sound Dull, produced in the middle or back of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia )
An illiterate fool sits in a mans seat; and the common people hold him learned, grave, and wise.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:
Etymology From Middle French grave, a learned borrowing from Latin gravis (“heavy, important”). Compare Old French greve (“terrible, dreadful”). Doublet of grief.
1
A grave accent, the diacritic mark `.
grave
verb
1
Nautical, TransportObsolete 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 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”)).
1
Historical A count, prefect, or person holding office.
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.1899, John Sturgeon Mackay, Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical, page 117: