grave

Less common meanings

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Those who have died, considered collectively; the dead.

   Similardead

   Oppositeliving

   Note

   The word stands for everyone a grave holds, much as the dead does, and it always takes 'the'. Arthur Conan Doyle gives a character the taunt You're jealous of the grave, meaning jealous of someone who has died. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Arthur Conan Doyle gives a character the words “You're jealous of the grave.” The speaker is Silas Linden in The Land of Mist. gutenberg.net.au
   • The taunt means jealous of someone who has died; its referent is Amy, Silas's deceased wife. gutenberg.net.au
6. 6
   USGRAYV/ɡɹeɪv/UKUKGRAHV/ɡɹɑːv/US

   accent marknouncountable

   A diacritical mark written as a small backward-leaning stroke above a letter, as in 'è'.

   The proofreader noticed that a grave was missing from the final syllable.

   French places a grave over certain vowels to mark their quality.

   UsageMost often called a grave accent, the opposite of an acute accent.

   Oppositeacute

7. 7
   deep (sound)adjective

   Low in pitch or tone, as a deep sound.

   A grave hum rose from the bass strings of the cello.

   The tuba's grave notes anchored the lower register of the orchestra.

   Similardeep, low, bass

   Oppositeacute

   Note

   Pitch borrows the Latin idea of heaviness here: a grave note is a low one, and its opposite is acute, the same pair that names the backward-sloping accent mark and its partner. John Weeks Moore's Encyclopedia of Music (1854) links it to the string itself: the thicker the cord, the more grave the tone. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The musical adjective derives ultimately from Latin gravis, meaning heavy. en.wiktionary.org
   • Grave denotes low pitch, opposed to acute. en.wiktionary.org
   • Grave and acute also name the two accent marks. en.wikipedia.org
   • Moore's encyclopedia states that a thicker cord or string produces a graver note or tone. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verbarchaicintransitive

   To carve or engrave letters, figures, or shapes in a hard material.

   Deep lines were graven on her pale forehead, and on her wan, thin cheeks.

   1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram

   Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel.

   1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

   Note

   Here the digging tool has become a stylus, and the surface is marked with on or upon. The King James Bible of 1611 has grave on them the names of the children of Israel, and Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Requiem' asks for the verse you grave for me. The participle graven carries much of the later use, as in James De Mille's The Cryptogram (1871), where deep lines "were graven on her pale forehead." Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
   • The King James Bible contains the quoted wording in Exodus 28:9. en.wikisource.org
   • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote 'Requiem'. robert-louis-stevenson.org
   • 'Requiem' requests an epitaph using the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
   • James De Mille's The Cryptogram was published in 1871. nble.lib.unb.ca
   • The Cryptogram describes deep lines using the quoted wording. gutenberg.org
9. 9
   verbobsoleteintransitive

   To impress something deeply on the mind; to fix it there 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.”

   Note

   The engraving image moves inward, with the heart or mind as the surface that takes the cut. Matthew Prior's line O! may they graven in thy heart remain shows the typical shape: the past participle graven, followed by in and the place of memory. Modern English keeps the picture in engraved on my memory, while grave itself has dropped out of use. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Matthew Prior wrote the quoted line; it occurs in Solomon on the Vanity of the World. en.wiktionary.org
   • Graven is a past participle, followed in this quotation by in thy heart. divinity.duke.edu
10. 10
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To place a body in a tomb or the ground; to inter or bury.

    Note

    Shakespeare writes "lie full low, graved in the hollow ground," using the past participle graved where modern English says buried. The verb is obsolete. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Shakespeare wrote the quoted words, spoken by Scroop in Richard II, Act III, scene ii; graved means buried here. gutenberg.org
11. 11
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To break up and remove earth by digging; to excavate.

    He hath graven and digged up a pit.

    1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)

    Note

    Plain digging is the verb's oldest meaning, inherited from Old English grafan, and the carving and burying senses grew from it. Miles Coverdale's translation of the Psalms sets it beside its successor: He hath graven and digged up a pit. Note the old participle graven next to digged. Dig now does this work, and the burial pit is what remains of it in everyday speech. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The verb is inherited from Old English grafan. en.wiktionary.org
    • Coverdale translated the Psalms. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in Coverdale's Psalter, with graven beside digged. bible-researcher.com
    • Graven is a past participle of grave. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    adjectiveobsolete

    Influential and important; carrying authority and commanding the respect of others.

    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

    Similarauthoritative, magisterial

    Note

    Older texts use the word for standing rather than mood. In Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, the common people hold a fool learned, grave, and wise, and grave there means weighty in authority, not gloomy. Read such lists of virtues with this sense in mind. In modern writing, magisterial or authoritative does the job. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy contains the passage describing common people regarding an illiterate fool as learned, grave and wise. gutenberg.org
    • Grave historically meant influential, important or authoritative, and Burton's passage illustrates that sense. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    nounobsolete

    An early metric unit of mass equal to one kilogram.

    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

    Note

    It was the metric system's first name for its unit of weight, before kilogram replaced it. John Sturgeon Mackay, in Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical (1899), still felt the name grave would in some respects have been preferable. Expect to meet it only in histories of measurement. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Grave was the original metric mass-unit name, later replaced by kilogram. en.wikipedia.org
    • John Sturgeon Mackay wrote Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical. mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk
    • Mackay considered grave preferable to kilogram in some respects. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    clean hullverbobsoletetransitive

    To clean a ship's bottom of barnacles, weed, and other growth, then coat it with pitch.

    Note

    An old explanation ties the name to graves, or greaves, said to have been used on a hull, though the link is doubted and the origin is obscure. To grave a ship was to scrape barnacles and weed from its bottom and then pay it over with pitch. Despite the spelling, it is treated as a separate verb from digging or carving, and it belongs to the obsolete language of wooden shipbuilding. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The origin is obscure; the proposed derivation from graves or greaves has been explicitly rejected as unfounded. en.wikisource.org
    • Graving meant cleaning marine growth from a ship's bottom and coating it with pitch. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    noun

    A count, prefect, or other person holding governing office over a town or territory.
16. 16
    adjectivedated

    Of a speech sound: having a dull, low-frequency quality, as back vowels and consonants made with the lips or soft palate do; opposed to acute.
17. 17
    adverb

    Very slowly and with solemnity, as a marking that instructs performers on the tempo and character of a musical passage.