grave¹

[greyv] /greɪv/

noun

an excavation made in the earth in which to bury a dead body.

any place of interment; a tomb or sepulcher:

a watery grave.

any place that becomes the receptacle of what is dead, lost, or past:

the grave of unfulfilled ambitions.

death:

O grave, where is thy victory?

Idioms

have one foot in the grave, to be so frail, sick, or old that death appears imminent:

It was a shock to see my uncle looking as if he had one foot in the grave.

make (one) turn / turn over in one's grave, to do something to which a specified dead person would have objected bitterly:

This production of Hamlet is enough to make Shakespeare turn in his grave.

Origin

before 1000; Middle English; Old English græf; cognate with German Grab; see grave³

Related forms

graveless, adjective

gravelike, adjective

graveward, gravewards, adverb, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for have one foot in the grave

grave¹

/ɡreɪv/

noun

a place for the burial of a corpse, esp beneath the ground and usually marked by a tombstone related adjective sepulchral

something resembling a grave or resting place: the ship went to its grave

the grave, a poetic term for death

(informal) have one foot in the grave, to be near death

to make someone turn in his grave, to make someone turn over in his grave, to do something that would have shocked or distressed (someone now dead): many modern dictionaries would make Dr Johnson turn in his grave

Word Origin

Old English græf; related to Old Frisian gref, Old High German grab, Old Slavonic grobǔ; see grave³

grave²

/ɡreɪv/

adjective

serious and solemn: a grave look

full of or suggesting danger: a grave situation

important; crucial: grave matters of state

(of colours) sober or dull

(phonetics)

(of a vowel or syllable in some languages with a pitch accent, such as ancient Greek) spoken on a lower or falling musical pitch relative to neighbouring syllables or vowels
of or relating to an accent (`) over vowels, denoting a pronunciation with lower or falling musical pitch (as in ancient Greek), with certain special quality (as in French), or in a manner that gives the vowel status as a syllable nucleus not usually possessed by it in that position (as in English agèd) Compare acute (sense 8), circumflex

noun

a grave accent

Derived Forms

gravely, adverb
graveness, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Old French, from Latin gravis; related to Greek barus heavy; see gravamen

grave³

/ɡreɪv/

verb (transitive) (archaic) graves, graving, graved, graved, graven

to cut, carve, sculpt, or engrave

to fix firmly in the mind

Word Origin

Old English grafan; related to Old Norse grafa, Old High German graban to dig

grave⁴

/ɡreɪv/

verb

(transitive) (nautical) to clean and apply a coating of pitch to (the bottom of a vessel)

Word Origin

C15: perhaps from Old French gravegravel

grave⁵

/ˈɡrɑːvɪ/

adjective, adverb

(music) to be performed in a solemn manner

Word Origin

C17: from Italian: heavy, from Latin gravis

Word Origin and History for have one foot in the grave

grave

Old English græf "grave, ditch, cave," from Proto-Germanic *graban (cf. Old Saxon graf, Old Frisian gref, Old High German grab "grave, tomb;" Old Norse gröf "cave," Gothic graba "ditch"), from PIE root *ghrebh- "to dig, to scratch, to scrape" (cf. Old Church Slavonic grobu "grave, tomb"); related to grafan "to dig" (see grave (v.)).

"The normal mod. representation of OE. græf would be graff; the ME. disyllable grave, from which the standard mod. form descends, was prob. due to the especially frequent occurrence of the word in the dat. (locative) case. [OED]

From Middle Ages to 17c., they were temporary, crudely marked repositories from which the bones were removed to ossuaries after some years and the grave used for a fresh burial. "Perpetual graves" became common from c.1650. To make (someone) turn in his grave "behave in some way that would have offended the dead person" is first recorded 1888.

adj.

1540s, from Middle French grave (14c.), from Latin gravis "weighty, serious, heavy, grievous, oppressive," from PIE root *gwere- "heavy" (cf. Sanskrit guruh "heavy, weighty, venerable;" Greek baros "weight," barys "heavy in weight," often with the notion of "strength, force;" Old English cweorn "quern;" Gothic kaurus "heavy;" Lettish gruts "heavy"). Greek barys (opposed to kouphos) also was used figuratively, of suffering, sorrow, sobbing, and could mean "oppressive, burdensome, grave, dignified, impressive." The noun meaning "accent mark over a vowel" is c.1600, from French.

"to engrave," Old English grafan (medial -f- pronounced as "v" in Old English; past tense grof, past participle grafen) "to dig, carve, dig up," from Proto-Germanic *grabanan (cf. Old Norse grafa, Old Frisian greva, Dutch graven, Old High German graban, German graben, Gothic graban "to dig, carve"), from the same source as grave (n.). Its Middle English strong past participle, graven, is the only part still active, the rest of the word supplanted by its derivative, engrave.

have one foot in the grave in Medicine

grave (grāv)
adj.
Serious or dangerous, as a symptom or disease.

Slang definitions & phrases for have one foot in the grave

have one foot in the grave

verb phrase

To be nearly dead; be doomed (1621+)

grave

Related Terms

have one foot in the grave

have one foot in the grave in the Bible

Among the ancient Hebrews graves were outside of cities in the open field (Luke 7:12; John 11:30). Kings (1 Kings 2:10) and prophets (1 Sam. 25:1) were generally buried within cities. Graves were generally grottoes or caves, natural or hewn out in rocks (Isa. 22:16; Matt. 27:60). There were family cemeteries (Gen. 47:29; 50:5; 2 Sam. 19:37). Public burial-places were assigned to the poor (Jer. 26:23; 2 Kings 23:6). Graves were usually closed with stones, which were whitewashed, to warn strangers against contact with them (Matt. 23:27), which caused ceremonial pollution (Num. 19:16). There were no graves in Jerusalem except those of the kings, and according to tradition that of the prophetess Huldah.

Idioms and Phrases with have one foot in the grave

grave

see: