grave

• enPR: grāv, IPA^(key): /ɡɹeɪv/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -eɪv
• (accent, also): IPA^(key): /ɡɹɑːv/
  • Rhymes: -ɑːv

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.

grave (countable and uncountable, plural graves)

1. (strictly) An excavation in the earth as a place of burial.

   Synonyms: plot; see also Thesaurus:grave

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 11:17:

     He had lain in the grave four days.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 31:17:

     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.

   • 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. (broadly) Any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher.
3. (very broadly) Any place containing one or more corpses.
4. (uncountable, by extension) Death, destruction.
   • a. 1769, unknown, The Cuckoo‎^[1], 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! […]

   • 1973, “Breathe”, in Roger Waters (lyrics), David Gilmour and Richard Wright (music), The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:

     […] balanced on the biggest wave you race towards an early 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."

• groove

• Sranan Tongo: grebi
  • Aukan: geebi

• grave (burial) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, vij:[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.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 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^[2], 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"

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     '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?'

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.
   • 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]:

     […] 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.

• begrave
• engrave

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

   • 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]:

     [Mercuti] Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

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^[3]:

     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.

• grave as a judge

grave (plural graves)

1. A grave accent.

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.

• burgrave
• landgrave
• margrave
• palsgrave
• waldgrave

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 was formerly used for this purpose.

• graving dock

• Gaver

• IPA^(key): /ɡraːvə/, [ˈɡ̊ʁɑːvə]

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

grave

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

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”).

grave c

1. indefinite plural of grav

• IPA^(key): /ˈɣraː.və/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gra‧ve
• Rhymes: -aːvə
• Homophone: Grave

grave

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

• verga, vrage

grave

1. seriously, gravely

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁav/

• Audio:

  (file)

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 April, “Quelques mots sur la pronunciation des lettres Turques”, in Dictionnaire turc-français:

     Quatre de ces voyelles sont graves: a, o, u, œu.

     Four of these are vowels are back [vowels], a, o, u, [and] œu

• accent grave
• gravement
• l’heure est grave

• gravissime
• gravitation
• gravité

• → Norwegian Bokmål: grave

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

• “grave”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• gaver

Borrowed from Latin gravis. Doublet of greve.

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

grave (plural gravi, superlative gravissimo)

1. grave, serious

   un grave problema

   a serious problem

2. heavy
3. solemn
4. (music) low-pitched, low-pitch

• importante
• pesante
• austero
• serio

• acuto

• gravemente
• gravare
• gravezza
• gravità
• gravoso

• → Danish: grave

• Verga, verga

grave

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of gravis

• "grave", in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• grave in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s 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^[4]

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

• graf, grafe, graffe, grawe

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

grave (plural graves)

1. grave, burial
2. tomb, mausoleum

• graven
• graveston

• English: grave
• Scots: grave, grawe, graive, graiwe, greawe

• “grāve, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-09.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡraːvɛi̯/, /ˈɡraːveː/

grave (plural graves)

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

• greve

From Old French grave.

grave f (plural graves)

1. gravel

• French: grave
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: grave

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (grave)

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

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

• Audio:

  (file)

grāve m

1. count, local judge

• German: Graf

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

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).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrɑːʋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːʋ
• Hyphenation: grave
• Homophone: grav

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

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

• “grave” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “grave” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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

1. Alternative form of grava

• gullgraving
• utgraving

• greve

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

• Middle French: grave
  • French: grave
    • → Norwegian Bokmål: grave
• ⇒ Old French: gravele
  • Middle French: gravelle, gravele
  • → Middle English: grauel
    • English: gravel

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (grave)

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -avi, (Portugal) -avɨ
• Hyphenation: gra‧ve

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)

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.

• gravemente

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾabe/ [ˈɡɾa.β̞e]
• Rhymes: -abe
• Syllabification: gra‧ve
• Homophone: grabe

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

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

• → Tagalog: grabe

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

• “grave”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

• verga

grave

1. definite natural masculine singular of grav

• avger

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡraːvə/

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
3rd singular	graaft	groef
plural	grave	groeven
imperative	graaf
participles	gravend	groeven

• “grave”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011