grave

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.

noun

1. An excavation in the earth as a place of burial
   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. Any place of interment; a tomb; a sepulcher.
3. (by extension) 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, 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
4. (by extension) Deceased people; the dead.

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”).

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To dig.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To carve or cut, as letters or figures, on some hard substance; to engrave.
   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
   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
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To impress deeply (on the mind); to fix indelibly.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To entomb; to bury.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To write or delineate on hard substances, by means of incised lines; to practice engraving.

Etymology 3

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

adj

1. Characterised by a dignified sense of seriousness; not cheerful.
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. February 6, 2016, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National
4. (phonology, dated, of a sound) Dull, produced in the middle or back of the mouth. (See Grave and acute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia)
5. (obsolete) Influential, important; authoritative.

noun

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

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”)).

noun

1. (historical) A count, prefect, or person holding office.

Etymology 5

verb

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.