graving


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Related to graving: Slip dock, Graving dry dock

grave 1

 (grāv)
n.
1.
a. An excavation for the interment of a corpse.
b. A place of burial.
2. Death or extinction: faced the grave with calm resignation.

[Middle English, from Old English græf; see ghrebh- in Indo-European roots.]

grave 2

 (grāv)
adj. grav·er, grav·est
1. Requiring serious thought; momentous: a grave decision in a time of crisis.
2. Fraught with danger or harm: a grave wound.
3. Dignified and somber in conduct or character: a grave procession. See Synonyms at serious.
4. Somber or dark in hue.
5. (also gräv) Linguistics
a. Written with or modified by the mark ( ` ), as the è in Sèvres.
b. Of or referring to a phonetic feature that distinguishes sounds produced at the periphery of the vocal tract, as in labial and velar consonants and back vowels.
n. (also gräv)

[French, from Old French, from Latin gravis; see gwerə- in Indo-European roots.]

grave′ly adv.
grave′ness n.

grave 3

 (grāv)
tr.v. graved, grav·en (grā′vən) or graved, grav·ing, graves
1. To sculpt or carve; engrave.
2. To stamp or impress deeply; fix permanently.

[Middle English graven, from Old English grafan; see ghrebh- in Indo-European roots.]

grave 4

 (grāv)
tr.v. graved, grav·ing, graves
To clean and coat (the bottom of a wooden ship) with pitch.

[Middle English graven.]

gra·ve 5

 (grä′vā)
adv. & adj. Music
In a slow and solemn manner. Used chiefly as a direction.

[Italian, from Latin gravis, heavy; see grave2.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.