Meaning of gray in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /ɡreɪ/

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  1. Verb

    gray

    Definitions

    1. make gray

    Examples

    • « The painter decided to grey the sky »
  2. 2. turn gray

    Examples

    • « Her hair began to gray »

  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
  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)