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REFERENCE

grave

n. · adj. · v.
US //ˈɡɹeɪv// grave
  1. 1 burial place (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    a hole in the ground where a dead person is buried.

    an excavation in the earth for the purpose of burial; by extension, any place of interment.

    Example

    They visited the cemetery to place fresh flowers on their grandfather's grave.

    Example

    The archaeologists discovered an unmarked grave containing several artefacts that suggested the occupant was a person of high social standing.
  2. 2 accent mark (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical

    a small mark (`) placed over a letter in some languages like French.

    a diacritical mark (`) used in various languages to indicate vowel quality, pitch, or stress.

    Example

    In the French word 'père', there is a grave accent over the first 'e'.

    Example

    The student struggled to distinguish between the acute and grave accents when transcribing the phonetic nuances of the dialect.
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  1. 3 serious or worrying (adj.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    very serious and important, often in a way that causes worry.

    characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; involving important or life-threatening consequences.

    Example

    The doctor had a grave expression on his face as he told us the news.

    Example

    The diplomatic situation reached a grave turning point when the ceasefire was violated for the third time in a week.
  2. 4 low in pitch (adj.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Formal Music

    describing a sound that is low and deep.

    referring to a sound or musical tone that is low in pitch.

    Example

    The organ produced a grave, booming sound that shook the floor.

    Example

    The composer specified a grave tempo and register for the opening movement to evoke a sense of solemnity.
  3. 5 to engrave (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Archaic Literary

    to carve or cut words or pictures into a hard surface.

    to carve, cut, or engrave letters or figures into a hard substance; often used figuratively for fixing something in the mind.

    Example

    The craftsman began to grave the king's name into the stone monument.

    Example

    The tragic events of that winter were graven deeply into the memories of all who survived the famine.
  4. 6 to clean a ship (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Archaic Technical Nautical

    to clean the bottom of a boat to remove shells and plants.

    to clean a vessel's bottom of barnacles and grass before coating it with pitch.

    Example

    The sailors had to grave the ship's hull before the long journey home.

    Example

    The vessel was brought into the dry dock so the crew could grave the hull and apply a fresh layer of protective pitch.
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”)).

Word family
Idioms8 entries

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