a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
clothing that is a grey color;"he was dressed in grey"
any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey;"the Confederate army was a vast grey"
horse of a light gray or whitish color
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
English radiobiologist in whose honor the gray (the SI unit of energy for the absorbed dose of radiation) was named (1905-1965)
English poet best known for his elegy written in a country churchyard (1716-1771)
American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806)
United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin"s theories of evolution (1810-1888)
Adjective:
of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black;"the little grey cells" "gray flannel suit" "a man with greyish hair"
showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair;"whose beard with age is hoar" "nodded his hoary head"
used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms);"a stalwart grey figure"
intermediate in character or position;"a grey area between clearly legal and strictly illegal"
"of a color between white and black; having little or no color or luminosity," Old English græg "gray" (Mercian grei), from Proto-Germanic *grewa- "gray" (cognates: Old Norse grar, Old Frisian gre, Middle Dutch gra, Dutch graw, Old High German grao, German grau), with no certain connections outside Germanic. French gris, Spanish gris, Italian grigio, Medieval Latin griseus are Germanic loan-words. The spelling distinction between British grey and U.S. gray developed 20c. Expression the gray mare is the better horse in reference to households ruled by wives is recorded from 1540s.
gray (n.)
c. 1200, from gray (adj.). Gray as figurative for "Southern troops in the U.S. Civil War" is first recorded 1863, in reference to their uniform color.
gray (v.)
"become gray, wither," 1610s (with an isolated instance from late 14c.), from gray (adj.). Related: Grayed; graying.
