All 9 Uses of
grave
in
To Kill a Mockingbird
- Atticus kept us in fits that evening, gravely reading columns of print about a man who sat on a flagpole for no discernible reason, which was reason enough for Jem to spend the following Saturday aloft in the treehouse.
p. 35.6gravely = in a serious and solemn manner
- Atticus's face was grave.
p. 124.3grave = serious and solemn
- Reverend Sykes used his pulpit more freely to express his views on individual lapses from grace: Jim Hardy had been absent from church for five Sundays and he wasn't sick; Constance Jackson had better watch her ways—she was in grave danger for quarreling with her neighbors; she had erected the only spite fence in the history of the Quarters.
p. 138.9grave = serious
- His face was grave.
p. 156.2grave = serious and solemn
- So far, things were utterly dull: nobody had thundered, there were no arguments between opposing counsel, there was no drama; a grave disappointment to all present, it seemed.
p. 193.2 *grave = serious
- The most ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious— because all men are created equal, educators will gravely tell you, the children left behind suffer terrible feelings of inferiority.
p. 233.3gravely = in a serious and solemn manner
- My cheeks grew hot as I realized my mistake, but Miss Maudie looked gravely down at me.
p. 262.6
Uses with a meaning too common or too rare to warrant foucs:
- Mrs. Dubose was not cold in her grave— Jem had seemed grateful enough for my company when he went to read to her.
p. 131.4 *grave = burial spot
- "Oh nothing, nothing," she said, "somebody just walked over my grave."
p. 290.9
Definitions:
-
(1)
(grave as in: Her manner was grave.) serious and/or solemnThe exact meaning of this sense of grave can depend upon its context. For example:
- "This is a grave problem," or "a situation of the utmost gravity." -- important, dangerous, or causing worry
- "She was in a grave mood upon returning from the funeral." -- sad or solemn
- "She looked me in the eye and gravely promised." -- in a sincere and serious manner
-
(2)
(meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Better known meanings of grave and gravity:Less common meanings of grave:
- grave -- a place where a dead body is buried
- gravity -- in the sense of physics to refer to the force of attraction between all masses in the universe--especially the force that causes things to fall toward the earth
- death -- as in "A message from beyond the grave."
- describing a color as dark
- to sculpt with a chisel
- to clean and coat the bottom of a wooden ship with pitch
- grave accent -- a punctuation mark (`) that is used in some non-English languages, and that is placed over some letters of the alphabet to tell how they are pronounced.
- grave musical direction -- in a slow and solemn manner