E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Grave.
Solemn, sedate, and serious in look and manner. This is the Latin gravis, grave; but “grave,” a place of interment, is the Anglo-Saxon grœf, a pit; verb, graf-an, to dig.
1
More grave than wise. “Tertius e cœlo cecdit Cato.”
dit Cato.”
