Webster's English Dictionary

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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