grave

n. countable

C1 Advanced Oxford US //ˈɡɹeɪv// grave

Archaic

n. the place in the ground where a person is buried after they die. It is usually marked with a stone that has the person's name on it.

n. an excavation in the earth for the interment of a corpse. Often used metonymically to refer to death itself.

SIMPLE

She placed fresh flowers on her grandfather's grave.

CONTEXTUAL

The old cemetery contains many unmarked graves dating back to the early nineteenth century.

COMPLEX

The poet reflects on the inevitability of the grave, suggesting that worldly achievements offer little comfort when one finally faces the silence of eternity.

Synonyms

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.

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”).

Etymology 3

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

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”)).

Usage

Often used in the idiom 'from the cradle to the grave' to describe the span of a person's life.

Idioms8 entries