All 10 Uses of
grave
in
Black Boy
- How on earth could I have made so grave a mistake?
Chpt 1.5 *grave = serious and solemn
- "Some are expelled," he hinted gravely.†
Chpt 2.19gravely = in a serious and solemn manner
- We're facing a grave crisis.
Chpt 2.19grave = serious and solemn
- Then, just before I was to go to bed, she uttered a paralyzing injunction: she ordered me to go out into the dark, dig a grave, and bury the kitten.†
Chpt 1.1
- When I had completed theburial, I sighed and started back to the flat, but my mother caught hold of my hand and led me again to the kitten's grave.†
Chpt 1.1
- I had no way of measuring the gravity of my wrong and I assumed that I had done something for which I would never be forgiven.†
Chpt 1.2
- I cried and buried her in the back yard and drove a barrel staving into the ground at the head of her grave.†
Chpt 1.2
- "And at last the darkness of the night descended and softly kissed the surface of the watery grave and the only sound was the lonely rustle of the ancient trees," I wrote as I penned the final line.†
Chpt 1.4
- The candidates were huddled together to listen to a sermon in which the road of salvation was mapped out from the cradle to the grave.†
Chpt 1.6
- Mr. Olin was waiting for me, his manner grave, his face serious.†
Chpt 1.12
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