GREY

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Grey mean? 

• GREY (noun)
  The noun GREY has 7 senses:

1. United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)

2. Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason (1537-1554)

3. Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)

4. any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey

5. a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black

6. clothing that is a grey color

7. horse of a light gray or whitish color

  Familiarity information: GREY used as a noun is common.

• GREY (adjective)
  The adjective GREY has 4 senses:

1. of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black

2. showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair

3. used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)

4. intermediate in character or position

  Familiarity information: GREY used as an adjective is uncommon.

• GREY (verb)
  The verb GREY has 2 senses:

1. make grey

2. turn grey

  Familiarity information: GREY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GREY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Grey; Zane Grey

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason (1537-1554)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Grey; Lady Jane Grey

Instance hypernyms:

Queen of England (the sovereign ruler of England)

Holonyms ("Grey" is a member of...):

House of Tudor; Tudor (an English dynasty descended from Henry Tudor; Tudor monarchs ruled from Henry VII to Elizabeth I (from 1485 to 1603))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Charles Grey; Grey; Second Earl Grey

Instance hypernyms:

national leader; solon; statesman (a man who is a respected leader in national or international affairs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

the Confederate army was a vast grey

Hypernyms ("grey" is a kind of...):

organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grey"):

Army of the Confederacy; Confederate Army (the southern army during the American Civil War)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A neutral achromatic color midway between white and black

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

gray; grayness; grey; greyness

Hypernyms ("grey" is a kind of...):

achromatic color; achromatic colour (a color lacking hue; white or grey or black)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grey"):

ash gray; ash grey; silver; silver gray; silver grey (a light shade of grey)

charcoal; charcoal gray; charcoal grey; oxford gray; oxford grey (a very dark grey color)

dapple-gray; dapple-grey; dappled-gray; dappled-grey (grey with a mottled pattern of darker grey markings)

iron-gray; iron-grey (the color of freshly broken cast iron)

tattletale gray; tattletale grey (a greyish white)

Davy's gray; Davy's grey; iron blue; steel gray; steel grey (slightly purplish or bluish dark grey)

Derivation:

grey (turn grey)

grey (make grey)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Clothing that is a grey color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

he was dressed in grey

Hypernyms ("grey" is a kind of...):

article of clothing; clothing; habiliment; vesture; wear; wearable (a covering designed to be worn on a person's body)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Horse of a light gray or whitish color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Hypernyms ("grey" is a kind of...):

mount; riding horse; saddle horse (a lightweight horse kept for riding only)

• GREY (adjective)

Comparative: greyer   
Superlative: greyest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black

Synonyms:

gray; grayish; grey; greyish

Context example:

a man with greyish hair

Similar:

achromatic; neutral (having no hue)

Derivation:

greyness (a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair

Synonyms:

gray; gray-haired; gray-headed; grey; grey-haired; grey-headed; grizzly; hoar; hoary; white-haired

Context example:

nodded his hoary head

Similar:

old ((used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

a stalwart grey figure

Similar:

southern (in or characteristic of a region of the United States south of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Intermediate in character or position

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

a grey area between clearly legal and strictly illegal

Similar:

intermediate (lying between two extremes in time or space or state)

• GREY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they grey    ... he / she / it greys   
Past simple: greyed   
Past participle: greyed   
-ing form: greying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make grey

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

The painter decided to grey the sky

Hypernyms (to "grey" is one way to...):

color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize (add color to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

grey (a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Turn grey

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

gray; grey

Context example:

Her hair began to grey

Hypernyms (to "grey" is one way to...):

color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

grey (a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black)

 Context examples 

Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The hair bristled upon the grey cub's back, but it bristled silently.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and, undoing the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a half-sheet of slate-grey paper.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is cold, cold; so cold that the grey heavy sky is full of snow, which when it falls will settle for all winter as the ground is hardening to receive it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

She sat crouched in the bottom of the boat, her lips blue, her face grey and plainly showing the pain she suffered.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It seemed to me to be something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our eyes at those times often met; and my great astonishment is that I didn't go over the head of my gallant grey into the carriage.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I looked round the convent-like garden, and then up at the house—a large building, half of which seemed grey and old, the other half quite new.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Our enemy said nothing; but his little grey eyes slid round with a most murderous glance in our direction.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An area of grey matter in the thoracic region of the spinal cord forming a laterally projecting triangle from the center of either side of the spinal cord.

(Lateral Horn of the Spinal Cord, NCI Thesaurus)