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gray

noun

  1. equine coat colour
L321426 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. (cause to) become gray
L331853 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɡɹeɪ/

adj

Etymology: From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ (West Saxon). The spelling gray reflects the West Saxon vowel development, whereas the variant grey stems from the Anglian form grēġ (through Middle English grey). Further derived from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”). Cognate with West Frisian grau (“grey”), Dutch grauw (“grey”), German Low German grau, graag (“grey”), German grau (“grey”), Swedish grå (“grey”), Icelandic grár (“grey”), Latin rāvus (“tawny, grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), archaic Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”).

  1. Of a color between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
  2. Dreary, gloomy, cloudy.

    the era of gray, boring banality and stagnation

    It's a pretty grey outlook for England if these are a sample of the mothers of the coming generation.

  3. Of indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality or acceptability.
  4. Gray-haired.

    I have already gone gray and lost my looks.

  5. Old.

    Two hours, whose mighty circle did embrace More time than might make grey the infant world, Rolled thus, a weary and tumultuous space: […]

    In a subculture that idealizes youth, being gay and gray does not exactly make one a hot ticket. Older gays and lesbians often relegate themselves to separate and unequal meeting places.

  6. Relating to older people.

    the gray dollar

    February 8, 1800, Fisher Ames, Eulogy on Washington Gray experience listened to his counsels with respect, and, at a time when youth is almost privileged to be rash, Virginia committed the safety of her frontier, and ultimately the safety of America, not merely to his valor,—for that would be scarcely praise,—but to his prudence.

name

Etymology: * As an English, Irish, Scottish, and Norman surname, from the placename Graye-sur-Mer in Calvados, from Late Latin Graecus (“Greek”). * Also as an English surname, from the adjective gray. Compare the Irish calque McGreevy. * As a French surname, from Gray, Haute-Saône in France, from the personal name Gradus, a Gallo-Roman/Celtic pronunciation of Gratus, from the name Gratius.

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname; originally a nickname for someone with a gray beard or hair.

    In Wyoming, a GOP state senator forwarded an FGA draft bill to Secretary of State Chuck Gray that would prohibit sending out unsolicited absentee ballot request forms.

  2. A male given name.
  3. A number of places in the United States:
  4. A number of places in the United States:
  5. A number of places in the United States:
  6. A number of places in the United States:
  7. A number of places in the United States:
  8. A number of places in the United States:
  9. A rural locality in north-east Tasmania, Australia.

noun

Etymology: Named after English physicist Louis Harold Gray (1905–1965).

  1. In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ (West Saxon). The spelling gray reflects the West Saxon vowel development, whereas the variant grey stems from the Anglian form grēġ (through Middle English grey). Further derived from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”). Cognate with West Frisian grau (“grey”), Dutch grauw (“grey”), German Low German grau, graag (“grey”), German grau (“grey”), Swedish grå (“grey”), Icelandic grár (“grey”), Latin rāvus (“tawny, grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), archaic Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”).

  1. To turn gray.

    My hair is beginning to gray.

  2. To turn progressively older, alluding to graying of hair through aging (used in context of the population of a geographic region)

    the graying of America

    It’s not what advocates of retrofitting the suburbs may have had in mind, but it’s a logical outcome of the graying of America, and of suburbia in particular.

  3. To give a soft effect to (a photograph) by covering the negative while printing with a ground-glass plate.