Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.
- adj. Dull or dark: a gray, rainy afternoon.
- adj. Lacking in cheer; gloomy: a gray mood.
- adj. Having gray hair; hoary.
- adj. Old or venerable.
- adj. Intermediate in character or position, as with regard to a subjective matter: the gray area between their differing opinions on the film's morality.
- n. An achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.
- n. An object or animal of the color gray.
- n. A member of the Confederate Army in the Civil War.
- n. The Confederate Army.
- v. To make gray.
- v. To become gray.
- v. To become old; age.
- v. To include a large or increasing proportion of older people: "Federal food programs can't keep up with the nation's rapidly graying population” ( Michael J. McCarthy).
- n. The SI unit for the energy absorbed from ionizing radiation, equal to one joule per kilogram.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of a color between white and black, having little or no positive color, and only moderate luminosity; of the color of black hair which has begun to turn white, as seen at some distance.
- Having gray hairs; gray-headed.
- Old; mature: as, gray experience.
- n. A gray color or tint; a color having little or no distinctive hue (chroma) and only moderate luminosity. If only about 5 per cent, of the light is reflected, the surface is called
black ; if as much as 50 per cent, is reflected, it is calledwhite . Pure gray has a slightly bluish appearance, owing to contrast with the color of brightness which enters into the sensation produced by white light. A small admixture of red with gray light makes the modified gray calledashes of roses . A small amount of green light mixed with gray is not noticed, and if the mixture is placed in juxtaposition with pure gray, the latter looks pinkish by contrast, while the former appears of a neutral tint. A larger admixture of green will give a mouse-gray (which properly requires the green to be yellowish), a still larger amount an olive gray, and still more a sage green. The effect of the admixture of violet blue is singularly dependent upon the shade of gray; if it is quite light, the result is a lilac gray or full lilac, or may be even too purple for lilac, while if the gray is darker a French gray or slate-gray results, which needs the addition of red to give lavender gray, although the latter appears bluer than lilac gray. If yellow is mixed with gray, the result is a stone gray or drab gray, or in larger admixture a full drab. All these remarks refer to mixtures of lights, not to mixtures of pigments, the effects of which depend upon the special absorption-spectra of the pigments, and can only be ascertained by direct experiment. - n. An animal of a gray color. Specifically— A badger.
- n. A gray horse.
- n. The gray duck, or gadwall.
- n. The California gray whale; the grayback.
- n. A kind of salmon, Salmo ferox.
- n. Twilight: as, the gray of the morning, or of the evening.
- n. plural A Scottish regiment of cavalry forming the second regiment of dragoons in the British army: so called from the color of their horses. Also Scots Grays.
- To cause to become gray; change to a gray color.
- To depolish, as glass.
- In photography, to give a mezzotint effect by covering the negative during the printing with a glass slightly ground or depolished on one side. Pictures thus treated are sometimes called Berlin portraits.
- n. Unbleached cotton fabric; a piece of cotton or worsted cloth, in the natural color of the raw material, as it comes from the loom, before it is dyed or finished.
- n. Same as methylene gray.
- n. A water-color consisting of carbon-black, lake, and indigo.
Wiktionary
- n. 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. Symbol: Gy
- adj. Having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember.
- adj. Dreary, gloomy.
- adj. Having an indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality.
- v. To become gray.
- v. To cause to become gray.
- n. An achromatic colour intermediate between black and white.
- n. ufology an extraterrestrial creature with grayish skin, bulbous black eyes, and an enlarged head.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. 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.
- adj. Gray-haired; gray-headed; of a gray color; hoary.
- adj. Old; mature.
- adj. gloomy; dismal.
- n. A gray color; any mixture of white and black; also, a neutral or whitish tint.
- n. An animal or thing of gray color, as a horse, a badger, or a kind of salmon.
- n. (U. S. History) the Confederate army or a soldier in the confederate army.
- n. the SI unit of absorbed dosage of ionizing radiation, equal to an absorbed energy of 1 joule per kilogram of irradiated material; -- abbreviated Gy. This unit is 100 times the commonly used unit, the rad.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
- n. the SI unit of energy absorbed from ionizing radiation; equal to the absorption of one joule of radiation energy by one kilogram of matter; one gray equals 100 rad
- adj. of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
- v. make grey
- adj. showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair
- n. any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey
- n. American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806)
- n. English radiobiologist in whose honor the gray (the SI unit of energy for the absorbed dose of radiation) was named (1905-1965)
- n. United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin's theories of evolution (1810-1888)
- n. English poet best known for his elegy written in a country churchyard (1716-1771)
- adj. intermediate in character or position
- adj. used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)
- n. clothing that is a grey color
- v. turn grey
- n. horse of a light gray or whitish color
Etymologies
- From Old English grǣġ, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Pre-Germanic *ǵrēwo, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer (“to shine, to glow”) (compare Latin rāvus ("grey"), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, "to see, to glance"), Russian зреть ("to watch, to look at") (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù ("to shine")). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English grei, from Old English grǣg.After Louis Harold Gray (1905-1965), British radiobiologist. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The most important and highest part of the brain is its surface, a thin layer of gray nerve-stuff, often spoken of as the _gray matter_ (the”
“Juicy Couture 's tunic-style dress in gray is a key buy, £ 155 on netaporter. com.”
“Semi-scheming, and living in the gray is a way of life.”
“I ordered the press office to make his name gray, put it in the smallest font size they can render, and leave mine at forty-eight points.”
“You run into what they call the gray area where you have sort of peripheral damage.”
“[I'm guessing the "gray" is us - people who can't see things clearly, have no sense of right and wrong.]”
“Then, too, "gray" is an uninspiring mixture of black and white.”
The Atlantic | July/August 2001 | Mark Twain's Reconstruction | Blount Jr.
“I think believe in gray is fine but just because you believe in it doesn’t mean someone else has to.”
“MILK CHOCOLATE MALT BALL CAKE (halved from Baked; original quantities in gray yield 3 8-inch cake layers or approximately 32 cupcakes)”
“I think Ghost Fox Killer says August General stands in gray partly because there is something between the two.”
Checkmate #19 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gray’.
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Tati's list
comfortable
comfortable, avocado, avoid, beautiful, beer, bear, brief, breath, bug, bias, burn, case and 97 more...
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phrontistery - g
from phrontistery.info
gabardine, gabbart, gabble, gabbro, gabelle, gabion, gablock, gad, gadarene, gadoid, gadroon, gadzookery and 439 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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Crayon Colors
This is a continuing list of Crayon Colors past and present. As I find new ones added to the "box", I will add them here as well!
black, blue, brown, apricot, bittersweet, blue green, blue violet, brick red, burnt sienna, carnation pink, cornflower, flesh and 134 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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Colors
Colors
yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green, lime, taupe, fuschia, eggshell, aqua, teal and 18 more...
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colors
This list aims to contain words whose primary definition describes the color itself, unlike gold, silver, rust, turquoise, etc. Of course red can mean communist, blue can mean sad, yellow can mean ...
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, purple, pink, grey, gray, white, black and 25 more...
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___ Rae
A friend of mine is changing her surname to Rae. She has a pleasant but unremarkable first name, and no middle name. So let's give her a memorable middle name. Come on Wordies, I know you can do it.
gamma, x, cosmic, sting, billy, more, death, hoo, tanker, norma, rae, sugar and 39 more...
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Colors
Words for colors, including things so associated with a color that they can be used in reference to a color.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple, navy, lavender, turquoise, chartreuse and 218 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-...
Words that have been used as baby names, including virtue names, nature names, place names, etc.
The title is an actual name given to a Puritan boy in the 17th century.faith, hope, grace, charity, chastity, prudence, patience, temperance, river, phoenix, stone, violet and 455 more...
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theastic's Words
cellar, stalemate, wrought, opal, tyrant, squelch, squab, linen, tartan, paisley, scope, siren and 395 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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Crayola Crayon Colors Circa 1998
almond, antique brass, apricot, aquamarine, asparagus, atomic tangerine, banana mania, beaver, bittersweet, black, blizzard blue, blue and 108 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gray.

bilby It's a greigh area. Aug 19, 2010
pterodactyl For a discussion of "grey" vs. "gray" (among other things), see they. Feb 7, 2009
yarb The name of a dog in War and Peace. The same animal is also referred to as Flabby, Azor and Femgalka. Nov 16, 2007