Meaning of gray in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Definitions
  3. Classifying Adjective
    1. Definitions
  4. Noun
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ɡreɪ/

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  1. Verb

    gray

    Definitions

    1. make gray

    Examples

    • « The painter decided to grey the sky »

    Derived terms

  2. 2. turn gray

    Examples

    • « Her hair began to gray »

    Derived terms

  3. Classifying Adjective

    gray

    Definitions

    1. an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white

    Examples

    • « gray flannel suit »
    • « hair just turning gray »

    Synonyms

  4. 2. showing characteristics of age, especially having gray or white hair

    Examples

    • « whose beard with age is hoar-Coleridge »
    • « nodded his hoary head »

    Synonyms

  5. 3. darkened with overcast

    Examples

    • « a dark day »
    • « a dull sky »
    • « a gray rainy afternoon »
    • « gray clouds »
    • « the sky was leaden and thick »

    Synonyms

  6. 4. used to signify the Confederate forces in the Civil War (who wore gray uniforms)

    Examples

    • « a stalwart gray figure »

    Synonyms

  7. 5. intermediate in character or position

    Examples

    • « a gray area between clearly legal and strictly illegal »

    Synonyms

  8. Noun

    gray

    Etymology

    1970s: named after Louis H. Gray (1905–65), English radiobiologist

    Definitions

    1. a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black

    Derived terms

  9. 2. gray clothing

    Examples

    • « he was dressed in gray »
  10. 3. any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are gray

    Examples

    • « the Confederate army was a vast gray »
  11. 4. horse of a light grey or whitish color
  12. 5. English poet best known for his elegy written in a country church-yard (1716-1771)
  13. 6. American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806)
  14. 7. United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin's theories of evolution (1810-1888)

Famous quotes

  • « Entertainment came out of this thing called a television, and it was gray. Most of the films that we saw at the cinema were black and white. It was a gray world. And music somehow was in color. »
    Pete Townshend
  • « I had ordered long legs, but they never arrived. My eyes are weird too, one is gray and the other is green. I have a crooked smile and my nose looks like a ski slope. No, I would not win a Miss contest. »
    Jane Seymour
  • « By common consent gray hairs are a crown of glory the only object of respect that can never excite envy. »
    George Bancroft
  • « Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young. »
    Rabindranath Tagore
  • « The cool wind blew in my face and all at once I felt as if I had shed dullness from myself. Before me lay a long gray line with a black mark down the center. The birds were singing. It was spring. »
    Burl Ives

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