# grey

Pronunciation: say "GRAY" /ɡɹeɪ/

## Adjective

1. Of the neutral colour lying between black and white, in any shade from pale to dark, like ash or a rain cloud.
   - Simple: Of the colour you get when you mix black and white.
   - _The town's grey stone houses look almost silver after rain._
   - _Choose the greyest of the three tiles if you want the floor to hide dirt._
3. Not clearly defined, or of doubtful or disputed quality or acceptability.
   - Simple: Not clearly defined, or not clearly right or wrong, good or bad.
   - _Whether the payments broke the law is a grey area, even for the lawyers._
   - _The line between borrowing an idea and copying it can be very grey._
4. Dull and cheerless, as cloudy weather is, or as a dreary time or place can be.
   - Simple: Dull and gloomy, like a cloudy day, or like a place or time that feels sad.
   - _After a week of grey skies, the first sunny day felt like a holiday._
   - _She described her home town as a grey place where nothing ever happened._
7. Of a person or animal, old in years, or showing age by having hair that has turned grey or white.
   - Simple: Having grey or white hair, or being old.
   - _A grey old man sat on the bench feeding the pigeons._
   - _He was already grey at the temples by the time he turned thirty._
8. Concerning or belonging to older people as a group.
   - Simple: To do with older people.
   - _Holiday companies have built whole cruise lines around the grey pound._
   - _Both parties are courting the grey vote ahead of the election._

## Noun

2. The colour itself, named as a thing: the neutral shade without any tint that lies between black and white, as in a shade of grey or dressed in grey.
   - Simple: The colour that is between black and white.
   - _The designer chose a soft grey for the living room walls._
   - _Slate blues and charcoal greys dominate this autumn's collection._
5. An animal or thing that is grey in colour, such as a grey horse, a badger, a grey whale or a grey squirrel.
   - Simple: An animal or thing that is grey, such as a grey horse or a grey whale.
   - _The grey won the second race by two lengths._
   - _The dealer had three greys for sale at the horse fair._
10. Another name for a grey alien, one of the beings described in accounts of UFO encounters.
   - Simple: In stories about UFOs, a grey alien, a creature some people say visits Earth.
   - _Her abduction story follows a familiar pattern: a bright light, missing time and a grey standing at the foot of the bed._
   - _Believers argue about whether the greys come from another planet or another time._

## Verb

6. To become grey in colour, or to cause something to become grey.
   - Simple: To become grey, or to make something grey.
   - _Many people's hair begins to grey in middle age._
   - _Salt spray and sun soon grey new oak fence panels._
9. Of a population, to grow steadily older as a whole, as if its hair were turning grey.
   - Simple: Of the people in a place, to get older as a group.
   - _Planners expect the region to grey rapidly over the next twenty years._
   - _The greying of Britain's coastal towns is putting pressure on local GP surgeries._

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) A title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1806, whose holder is styled Earl Grey.
- (noun) A soldier of the Royal Scots Greys, a former Scottish cavalry regiment of the British Army, known for riding grey horses.
- (proper noun) The territorial authority of Grey District on New Zealand's West Coast, successor to Grey County.
- (proper noun) A short name for Grey County, a county in Ontario, Canada, or a former county on New Zealand's West Coast.
- (proper noun) An informal short name for Grey College, one of the colleges of Durham University.
- (noun) A fake coin showing tails on both faces, used for cheating at two-up.
- (verb) To soften the look of a photographic print by laying a ground-glass plate over the negative during printing.

## Origin

Middle English grey continues Old English grēġ (grǣġ in West Saxon), which comes from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz; related forms are Dutch grauw, German grau and Old Norse grár. The Germanic word probably goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰreh₁-, though scholars disagree on whether it meant "to grow" or "to glow". Latin rāvus ("grey") may be set beside it.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/grey (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).