ENGRAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does engrave mean? 

• ENGRAVE (verb)
  The verb ENGRAVE has 4 senses:

1. carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface

2. impress or affect deeply

3. carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block

4. carve or cut a design or letters into

  Familiarity information: ENGRAVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENGRAVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they engrave    ... he / she / it engraves   
Past simple: engraved   
Past participle: engraved   
-ing form: engraving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

engrave; grave; inscribe; scratch

Context example:

the lovers scratched their names into the bark of the tree

Hypernyms (to "engrave" is one way to...):

carve; chip at (engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface)

Verb group:

engrave; etch (carve or cut a design or letters into)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "engrave"):

character (engrave or inscribe characters on)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

engraver (a skilled worker who can inscribe designs or writing onto a surface by carving or etching)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Impress or affect deeply

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

The event engraved itself into her memory

Hypernyms (to "engrave" is one way to...):

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carve or cut into a block used for printing or print from such a block

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

engrave; etch

Context example:

engrave a letter

Hypernyms (to "engrave" is one way to...):

print (make into a print)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "engrave"):

benday (reproduce by the Benday process)

stipple (engrave by means of dots and flicks)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

engraver (a printmaker who prints from an engraved printing plate)

engraving (making engraved or etched plates and printing designs from them)

gravure (the act of intaglio printing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Carve or cut a design or letters into

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

engrave; etch

Context example:

engrave the pen with the owner's name

Hypernyms (to "engrave" is one way to...):

carve; chip at (engrave or cut by chipping away at a surface)

Verb group:

engrave; grave; inscribe; scratch (carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

On the stock was engraved ‘SS. Sea Unicorn, Dundee.’

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After that she drew a gold ring, on which her name was engraved, off her finger, and put it upon one of his.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"I'm sure I am," echoed Amy, poring over the engraved copy of the Madonna and Child, which her mother had given her in a pretty frame.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He brought up a card, too, with the name of ‘Colonel Lysander Stark’ engraved upon it.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She said "It is the only version of the declaration that does that, with the exception of an engraving from 1836 that derives from it. This is really a symbolic way of saying we are all one people..."

(Parchment Copy of Declaration of Independence Found in Small British Town, VOA)

The centre of the street door was perfectly covered with a great brass-plate, on which was engraved Mrs. Micawber's Boarding Establishment for Young Ladies: but I never found that any young lady had ever been to school there; or that any young lady ever came, or proposed to come; or that the least preparation was ever made to receive any young lady.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

What the Admiralty was to me that day; what nonsense I made of our case in my mind, as I listened to it; how I saw DORA engraved upon the blade of the silver oar which they lay upon the table, as the emblem of that high jurisdiction; and how I felt when Mr. Spenlow went home without me (I had had an insane hope that he might take me back again), as if I were a mariner myself, and the ship to which I belonged had sailed away and left me on a desert island; I shall make no fruitless effort to describe.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)