grey
See also: Grey
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- gray (often used in the US)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English grey, from Old English grǣġ, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”) (compare Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”)).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
grey (comparative greyer or more grey, superlative greyest or most grey)
- UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:
- These grey and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks.
- (South Africa, slang) Synonym of coloured (pertaining to the mixed race of black and white).[1]
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from grey
- all cats are grey at night
- all cats are grey by night
- all cats are grey in the dark
- ash-grey
- ash grey
- battleship-grey
- battleship grey
- blue-grey
- brain grey
- cadet grey
- code grey
- cool grey
- dove grey
- eastern grey kangaroo
- French grey
- get grey hair from
- give grey hair to
- give someone grey hair
- great grey owl
- great grey shrike
- grey-backed fiscal
- grey-blue
- grey-box testing
- grey-collar
- grey-haired
- grey-hat
- grey-headed
- grey-headed bunting
- grey-headed chickadee
- grey-headed woodpecker
- grey-hooded bunting
- grey-legged tinamou
- grey-necked bunting
- grey-necked wood rail
- grey-tailed tattler
- grey-throated rail
- grey-winged trumpeter
- grey alder
- grey amber
- grey area
- greyback
- greybeard
- greyboard
- greybody
- grey cells
- grey corkwood
- grey crested tit
- grey crow
- grey crowned crane
- grey eminence
- greyen
- greyer
- greyest
- grey friar
- greyfriar
- grey ghost
- grey gold
- grey goo
- grey hat
- greyhead
- grey hen
- grey heron
- greyhound
- greyish
- greyishly
- grey jay
- grey junglefowl
- greylag
- greyline
- greylist
- grey literature
- greyly
- grey magic
- grey magick
- grey market
- grey marketeer
- grey matter
- grey mullet
- greyness
- grey night
- grey noise
- grey nomad
- grey nurse
- grey nurse shark
- grey out
- grey partridge
- grey platelet syndrome
- grey plover
- grey pound
- grey power
- grey rape
- grey red-backed vole
- grey reef shark
- grey rhea
- grey rocking
- grey rock method
- greyscale
- greyschist
- grey seal
- greystone
- grey teal
- grey tinamou
- grey tit
- grey wagtail
- greyware
- greywater
- greywether
- grey whale
- grey wolf
- grey zorro
- gunmetal-grey
- gunmetal grey
- lesser grey shrike
- military grey
- Patagonian grey fox
- pearl grey
- pinko-grey
- silver-grey
- slate grey
- South American grey fox
- the fox may grow grey but never good
- the grey mare is the better horse
- ungrey
- western grey kangaroo
- wolf-grey
TranslationsEdit
gray — see gray
VerbEdit
grey (third-person singular simple present greys, present participle greying, simple past and past participle greyed)
- UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck[1]:
- Now only a few hand-hewn cedar planks and roof beams remained, moss-grown and sagging—a few totem poles, greyed and split.
NounEdit
grey (plural greys)
- UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- 1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
- Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, / That costs thy life, my gallant grey.
- 1833, Sporting Magazine, volume 6, page 400:
- Pioneer seemed now to have the game in his own hands; but the Captain, by taking two desperate leaps, cut off a corner, by which he regained the ground he had lost by the fall, and was up with the grey the remainder of the chase.
TranslationsEdit
gray — see gray
See alsoEdit
| white | gray, grey | black |
| red; crimson | orange; brown | yellow; cream |
| lime, lime green | green | mint |
| cyan; teal | azure, sky blue | blue |
| violet; indigo | magenta; purple | pink |
ReferencesEdit
- ^ 2001, Charlotte Spinks, A New Apartheid? Urban Spatiality, (Fear of) Crime, and Segregation; in Cape Town, South Africa, Destin Development Studies Institute, ISSN 1470-2320
AnagramsEdit
IcelandicEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse grey, from Proto-Germanic *grawją, cognate with Faroese groyggj.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
grey n (genitive singular greys, nominative plural grey)
- (archaic) bitch (female dog)
- wretch, pitiful person
- Greyið mitt!
- You poor little thing!
- Greyið Jón
- Poor John
- indefinite accusative singular of grey
- indefinite nominative plural of grey
- indefinite accusative plural of grey
DeclensionEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
grey (plural and weak singular greye)
- grey, dull, drab (in color)
- glinting, glistening
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
NounEdit
grey
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
- “grei, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
- “grei, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
See alsoEdit
| whit | grey, hor | blak |
| red; cremesyn, gernet | citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne | yelow, dorry; canevas |
| grasgrene | grene | |
| plunket; ewage | asure, livid | blewe, blo, pers |
| violet; inde | rose, murrey; purpel, purpur | claret |
PortugueseEdit
NounEdit
grey m (plural greys)
- Alternative form of gray (race of extraterrestrials)
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Inherited from Old Spanish grey, from Latin gregem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
grey f (plural greyes)
- (obsolete, poetic) flock, herd
- (religion) flock (people served by a pastor, priest, etc., also all believers in a church or religion)
- Synonyms: rebaño, feligresía, congregación, iglesia
- 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:
- toda la grey díscola y ladina de aquellas verdes montañas
- the whole rebellious and cunning flock from those green mountains
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “grey”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “grey”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos, page 208