grave
Cross references:
1. serious
1. grave \'gra-v\ \'gra--v*n\ vt or graved; or grav.en; or graved or
grav.ing [ME graven, fr. OE grafan; akin to OHG graban to dig, OSlav
p]ogreti to bury archaic 1: DIG, EXCAVATE 2a: to carve or shape with a
chisel : SCULPTURE 2b: to carve or cut (as letters or figures) into a hard
surface 3: to impress or fix (as a thought) deeply
2. grave n [ME, fr. OE grf; akin to OHG grab grave, OE grafan t]o dig
: an excavation for burial of a body; broadly : TOMB
3. grave vt [ME graven] : to clean and pay with pitch (as a ship's bottom)
4. grave \'gra-v, in sense 5 also 'gra:v\ aj [MF, fr. L gravis heavy, grave
- more at GRIEVE] obs 1a: AUTHORITATIVE, WEIGHTY 1b: meriting serious
consideration : IMPORTANT 1c: threatening great harm or danger : MORTAL
2: dignified in bearing or demeanor 3: drab in color : SOMBER 4:
low-pitched in sound of an accent mark 5a: having the form <accent grave>
5b: marked with a grave accent 5c: of the variety indicated by a grave
accent - grave.ly av
5. grave \'gra-v, 'gra:v\ n : a grave accent <accent grave> used to show
that that a vowel is pron ounced with a fall of pitch (as in ancient Greek)
that a vowel has a certain quality (as over e in French), that a final e is
stressed and close and that a final o is stressed and open (as in Italian),
that a syllable has a degree of stress between maximum and minimum (as in
phonetic transcription), or that the e of the English ending -ed in a line
of poetry is to be pronounced /*/, /i/, or /e/ for the sake of the meter
(as in "this cursed day")
6. gra.ve \'gra:v-(.)a-\ av(or aj) [It, lit., grave, fr. L gravis] : slowly
and solemnly - used as a direction in music