Gray \Gray\ (gr[=a]), a. [Compar. Grayer; superl. Grayest.]
[OE. gray, grey, AS. gr[=ae]g, gr[=e]g; akin to D. graauw,
OHG. gr[=a]o, G. grau, Dan. graa, Sw. gr[*a], Icel. gr[=a]r.]
[Written also grey.]
1. any color of neutral hue between white and black; white
mixed with black, as the color of pepper and salt, or of
ashes, or of hair whitened by age; sometimes, a dark mixed
color; as, the soft gray eye of a dove.
[1913 Webster]
These gray and dun colors may be also produced by
mixing whites and blacks. --Sir I.
Newton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Gray-haired; gray-headed; of a gray color; hoary.
[1913 Webster]
3. Old; mature; as, gray experience. -- Ames.
[1913 Webster]
4. gloomy; dismal.
[PJC]
Gray antimony (Min.), stibnite.
Gray buck (Zool.), the chickara.
Gray cobalt (Min.), smaltite.
Gray copper (Min.), tetrahedrite.
Gray duck (Zool.), the gadwall; also applied to the female
mallard.
Gray falcon (Zool.) the peregrine falcon.
Gray Friar. See Franciscan, and Friar.
Gray hen (Zool.), the female of the blackcock or black
grouse. See Heath grouse.
Gray mill or Gray millet (Bot.), a name of several plants
of the genus Lithospermum; gromwell.
Gray mullet (Zool.) any one of the numerous species of the
genus Mugil, or family Mugilid[ae], found both in the
Old World and America; as the European species
({Mugilid[ae] capito, and Mugilid[ae] auratus), the
American striped mullet ({Mugilid[ae] albula), and the
white or silver mullet ({Mugilid[ae] Braziliensis). See
Mullet.
Gray owl (Zool.), the European tawny or brown owl ({Syrnium
aluco). The great gray owl ({Ulula cinerea}) inhabits
arctic America.
Gray parrot (Zool.), an African parrot ({Psittacus
erithacus), very commonly domesticated, and noted for its
aptness in learning to talk. Also called jako.
Gray pike. (Zool.) See Sauger.
Gray snapper (Zool.), a Florida fish; the sea lawyer. See
Snapper.
Gray snipe (Zool.), the dowitcher in winter plumage.
Gray whale (Zool.), a rather large and swift whale of the
northern Pacific ({Eschrichtius robustus, formerly
Rhachianectes glaucus), having short jaws and no dorsal
fin. It grows to a length of 50 feet (someimes 60 feet).
It was formerly taken in large numbers in the bays of
California, and is now rare; -- called also grayback,
devilfish, and hardhead. It lives up to 50 or 60 years
and adults weigh from 20 to 40 tons.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Grey \Grey\, a.
See Gray (the correct orthography).
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
grey
adj 1: an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of
black and white; "gray flannel suit"; "hair just
turning gray" [syn: gray, grayish, greyish]
2: showing characteristics of age, especially having gray or
white hair; "whose beard with age is hoar"-Coleridge;
"nodded his hoary head" [syn: gray, gray-haired, grey-haired,
gray-headed, grey-headed, grizzly, hoar, hoary,
white-haired]
3: used to signify the Confederate forces in the Civil War (who
wore gray uniforms); "a stalwart gray figure" [syn: gray]
4: intermediate in character or position; "a gray area between
clearly legal and strictly illegal" [syn: gray]
5: darkened with overcast; "a dark day"; "a dull sky"; "a gray
rainy afternoon"; "gray clouds"; "the sky was leaden and
thick" [syn: dull, gray, leaden]
n 1: United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)
[syn: Zane Grey]
2: Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly
replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason
(1537-1554) [syn: Lady Jane Grey]
3: Englishman who as Prime minister implemented social reforms
including the abolition of slavery throughout the British
Empire (1764-1845) [syn: Charles Grey, Second Earl Grey]
4: any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are gray;
"the Confederate army was a vast gray" [syn: gray]
5: a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
[syn: gray, grayness, greyness]
6: gray clothing; "he was dressed in gray" [syn: gray]
v 1: make gray; "The painter decided to grey the sky" [syn: gray]
2: turn gray; "Her hair began to gray" [syn: gray]
WordNet (r) 2.0
203 Moby Thesaurus words for "grey":
Quaker-colored, achromatic, achromic, acier, advanced,
advanced in life, advanced in years, aged, along in years, ancient,
anemic, ashen, ashy, bay, bayard, black, bleak, bled white,
bloodless, boring, buckskin, cadaverous, calico pony, canescence,
canescent, cheerless, chestnut, chloranemic, cinereous, cinerous,
cloudy, colorless, dapple, dapple-gray, dappled, dappled-gray,
dark, dead, deadly pale, deathly pale, depressing, dim, dimmed,
dingy, discolored, dismal, dove-colored, dove-gray, drab, drabness,
drear, drearisome, dreary, dull, dullness, dun, dusty, elderly,
etiolated, experienced, exsanguinated, exsanguine, exsanguineous,
faded, faint, fallow, flat, foggy, funebrial, funereal, ghastly,
glaucescence, glaucescent, glaucous, glaucousness, gloomy, glum,
grave, gray, gray with age, gray-black, gray-brown, gray-colored,
gray-drab, gray-green, gray-haired, gray-headed, gray-spotted,
gray-toned, gray-white, grayed, grayish, grayishness, grayness,
grim, griseous, grizzle, grizzled, grizzly, grown old, haggard,
hoar, hoary, hueless, humdrum, hypochromic, iron-gray, lackluster,
lead-gray, leaden, leadenness, livid, lividity, lividness, lurid,
lusterless, mat, mature, mealy, misty, monotonous, mouse-colored,
mouse-gray, mousiness, mousy, muddy, murky, neutral, neutral tint,
old, old as Methuselah, overcast, paint, painted pony, pale,
pale as death, pale-faced, pallid, pasty, patriarchal, pearl,
pearl-gray, pearly, piebald, pinto, repetitive, roan, sad, sallow,
same, samely, saturnine, senectuous, sickly, silver, silver-gray,
silvered, silveriness, silvery, skewbald, slate-colored, slatiness,
slaty, smoke-gray, smokiness, smoky, sober, soberness, solemn,
somber, somberness, sombrous, sooty, sorrel, steel-gray, steely,
stone-colored, sunless, tallow-faced, taupe, tedious, toneless,
triste, uncolored, unrelieved, venerable, wan, washed-out, waxen,
weak, weariful, wearisome, weary, whey-faced, white,
white with age, white-bearded, white-crowned, white-haired, wise,
wrinkled, wrinkly, years old
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
|
|
|