Gray , n.
1. A gray color; any mixture of white and black; also, a
neutral or whitish tint.
2. An animal or thing of gray
color, as a
horse, a badger, or a kind of salmon.
Woe worth the
chase, woe worth the day.
That coats thy life, my gallant gray.
Sir W. Scott.
Gray (?), a.
[Compar. Grayer (&?;); superl.
Grayest.]
[OE. gray, grey, AS. gr&aemacr;g, grēg; akin to D.
graauw, OHG. grāo, G. grau, Dan. graa, Sw.
grå, Icel. grār.] [Written also grey.] 1. 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; as, the
soft gray eye of a dove.
These gray and dun colors may be also
produced by mixing whites and blacks.
Sir I. Newton.
2. Gray-haired; gray-headed; of a gray color; hoary.
3. Old; mature; as, gray experience. Ames.
Gray antimony
(Min.), stibnite. -- Gray buck (Zoöl.), the chickara. --
Gray cobalt
(Min.), smaltite. -- Gray copper (Min.), tetrahedrite. -- Gray duck (Zoöl.), the gadwall; also applied to the female
mallard. -- Gray falcon (Zoöl.)
the peregrine falcon. -- Gray Friar. See Franciscan, and Friar. -- Gray hen (Zoöl.), the female of
the blackcock or black grouse. See Heath grouse. -- Gray mill or
millet (Bot.),
a name of
several plants of the genus Lithospermum; gromwell. -- Gray mullet (Zoöl.)
any one of the numerous species of the genus
Mugil, or family Mugilidæ,
found both in the Old World and America; as the European species (M. capito, and M. auratus), the American striped mullet (M. albula), and the white
or silver mullet (M. Braziliensis). See Mullet. -- Gray owl (Zoöl.), the European tawny or brown owl
(Syrnium aluco). The great gray owl (Ulula cinerea)
inhabits arctic America. -- Gray parrot (Zoöl.), a parrot (Psittacus erithacus), very commonly domesticated, and noted for
its aptness in learning to talk. -- Gray pike. (Zoöl.) See Sauger. -- Gray snapper (Zoöl.),
a Florida fish; the sea lawyer. See Snapper. -- Gray snipe (Zoöl.),
the dowitcher in winter plumage. -- Gray whale (Zoöl.),
a rather large and swift California whale
(Rhachianectes glaucus), formerly taken in large numbers in the bays; -- called also grayback, devilfish, and hardhead.
Hear it pronounced