gray

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.
2. adj. Dull or dark: a gray, rainy afternoon.
3. adj. Lacking in cheer; gloomy: a gray mood.
4. adj. Having gray hair; hoary.
5. adj. Old or venerable.
6. 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.
7. n. An achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.
8. n. An object or animal of the color gray.
9. n. A member of the Confederate Army in the Civil War.
10. n. The Confederate Army.
11. v. To make gray.
12. v. To become gray.
13. v. To become old; age.
14. 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).
15. n. The SI unit for the energy absorbed from ionizing radiation, equal to one joule per kilogram.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. 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.
2. Having gray hairs; gray-headed.
3. Old; mature: as, gray experience.
4. 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 called white. 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 called ashes 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.
5. n. An animal of a gray color. Specifically— A badger.
6. n. A gray horse.
7. n. The gray duck, or gadwall.
8. n. The California gray whale; the grayback.
9. n. A kind of salmon, Salmo ferox.
10. n. Twilight: as, the gray of the morning, or of the evening.
11. 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.
12. To cause to become gray; change to a gray color.
13. To depolish, as glass.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. n. Same as methylene gray.
17. n. A water-color consisting of carbon-black, lake, and indigo.

Wiktionary

1. 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
2. adj. Having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember.
3. adj. Dreary, gloomy.
4. adj. Having an indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality.
5. v. To become gray.
6. v. To cause to become gray.
7. n. An achromatic colour intermediate between black and white.
8. n. ufology an extraterrestrial creature with grayish skin, bulbous black eyes, and an enlarged head.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. 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.
2. adj. Gray-haired; gray-headed; of a gray color; hoary.
3. adj. Old; mature.
4. adj. gloomy; dismal.
5. n. A gray color; any mixture of white and black; also, a neutral or whitish tint.
6. n. An animal or thing of gray color, as a horse, a badger, or a kind of salmon.
7. n. (U. S. History) the Confederate army or a soldier in the confederate army.
8. 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

1. n. a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
2. 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
3. adj. of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
4. v. make grey
5. adj. showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair
6. n. any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey
7. n. American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806)
8. n. English radiobiologist in whose honor the gray (the SI unit of energy for the absorbed dose of radiation) was named (1905-1965)
9. n. United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin's theories of evolution (1810-1888)
10. n. English poet best known for his elegy written in a country churchyard (1716-1771)
11. adj. intermediate in character or position
12. adj. used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)
13. n. clothing that is a grey color
14. v. turn grey
15. n. horse of a light gray or whitish color