Gray

Gray  (gr), Asa 1810-1888.

American botanist who greatly enlarged and improved the description of North American flora and was the chief American advocate of Charles Darwin's theories.

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Gray, Robert 1755-1806.

American explorer who twice circumnavigated the globe (1787-1790 and 1790-1793) and discovered Grays Harbor and the Columbia River (1792).

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Gray, Thomas 1716-1771.

British poet considered a forerunner of English romanticism. His most famous work is Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751).

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gray ¹ also grey  (gr)

adj. gray·er also grey·er, gray·est also grey·est

1. Of or relating to an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.

2.

a. Dull or dark: a gray, rainy afternoon.

b. Lacking in cheer; gloomy: a gray mood.

3.

a. Having gray hair; hoary.

b. Old or venerable.

4. Intermediate in character or position, as with regard to a subjective matter: the gray area between their differing opinions on the film's morality.

n.

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

2. An object or animal of the color gray.

3. often Gray

a. A member of the Confederate Army in the Civil War.

b. The Confederate Army.

v. grayed also greyed, gray·ing also grey·ing, grays also greys

v.tr.

To make gray.

v.intr.

1. To become gray.

2.

a. To become old; age.

b. To include a large or increasing proportion of older people: "Federal food programs can't keep up with the nation's rapidly graying population" (Michael J. McCarthy).

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[Middle English grei, from Old English grg.]

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grayly adj.

grayness n.

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gray ²  (gr)

n. Abbr. Gy

The SI unit for the energy absorbed from ionizing radiation, equal to one joule per kilogram.

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[After Louis Harold Gray (1905-1965), British radiobiologist.]

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Gray [greɪ]

n

1. (Biographies / Gray, Simon (James Holiday) (1936 M, British, WRITING: writer, THEATRE: dramatist) Simon (James Holiday). born 1936, British writer: his plays include Butley (1971), The Common Pursuit (1988), and Life Support (1997)

2. (Biographies / Gray, Thomas (1716-1771) M, English, WRITING: poet) Thomas. 1716-71, English poet, best known for his Elegy written in a Country Churchyard (1751)

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gray¹

adj & n & vb

(Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Colours) a variant spelling (now esp US) of grey

grayish  adj

grayly  adv

grayness  n

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gray²

n

(Mathematics & Measurements / Units) the derived SI unit of absorbed ionizing radiation dose or kerma equivalent to an absorption per unit mass of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material. 1 gray is equivalent to 100 rads. Symbol Gy

[named after Louis Harold Gray (1905-65), English physicist]

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gray  (gr)

The SI derived unit used to measure the energy absorbed by a substance per unit weight of the substance when exposed to radiation. One gray is equal to one joule per kilogram, or 100 rads. The gray is named after British physicist Louis Harold Gray (1905-1965).

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Gray 

See Also: COLORS, GLOOM, HAIR COLOR, SKY, WEATHER

1. An ash-gray … like that of the first thinning of the darkness after a rain-sodden night —Dan Jacobson
2. (His face was) faintly gray like newsprint —John Updike
3. (Eyes) gray as a goose —Geoffrey Chaucer
4. Gray as a vault —Elizabeth Spencer
5. Gray as bones —Martin Cruz Smith
6. Gray as cement —Philip Levine
7. (The weather had turned as) gray as concrete —Jean Thompson
8. Gray as flannel —Jonathan Valin In his novel, Life’s Work, Valin thus describes what remains of a man’s hair: “Bald on top, gray as flannel on the sides.”
9. (Eyes) gray as glass —Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer used the simile in The Canterbury Tales (The Miller’s Tale) and Shakespeare used it in Gentlemen of Verona.
10. Gray as lava —D. H. Lawrence
11. (Skin) gray as lead —William Diehl
12. (Warships) gray as sharks —George Garrett
13. (Eyes … ) gray as storm clouds —Margaret Millar
14. (Max was) gray as the sky —Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
15. Gray like dust —Algernon Charles Swinburne
16. Gray [hair] like the last snows of winter —John Cheever
17. Gray like washed slate —John Updike
18. (Eyes had gone) icy gray, like winter frost —Andrew Kaplan

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grey, gray - The distinction in spelling between British grey and American gray is recent, popping up in the 20th century.

See also related terms for recent.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	gray - a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black grayness, greyness, grey achromatic color, achromatic colour - a color lacking hue; white or grey or black ash gray, ash grey, silver gray, silver grey, silver - a light shade of grey charcoal gray, charcoal grey, oxford gray, oxford grey, charcoal - 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
	2.	gray - clothing that is a grey color; "he was dressed in grey" grey article of clothing, clothing, habiliment, wearable, vesture, wear - a covering designed to be worn on a person's body
	3.	gray - any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey; "the Confederate army was a vast grey" grey organization, organisation - a group of people who work together Army of the Confederacy, Confederate Army - the southern army during the American Civil War
	4.	gray - horse of a light gray or whitish color grey mount, riding horse, saddle horse - a lightweight horse kept for riding only
	5.	gray - 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 Gy radioactivity unit - a measure of radioactivity
	6.	Gray - English radiobiologist in whose honor the gray (the SI unit of energy for the absorbed dose of radiation) was named (1905-1965) Louis Harold Gray radiobiologist - a biologist who studies the effects of radiation on living organisms
	7.	Gray - English poet best known for his elegy written in a country churchyard (1716-1771) Thomas Gray
	8.	Gray - American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806) Robert Gray
	9.	Gray - United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin's theories of evolution (1810-1888) Asa Gray
Verb	1.	gray - make grey; "The painter decided to grey the sky" grey color, color in, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film"
	2.	gray - turn grey; "Her hair began to grey" grey discolour, discolor, color, colour - change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts discolored"
Adj.	1.	gray - 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" grayish, grey, greyish achromatic, neutral - having no hue; "neutral colors like black or white"
	2.	gray - showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair; "whose beard with age is hoar"-Coleridge; "nodded his hoary head" grey-haired, grey-headed, grizzly, hoar, hoary, white-haired, gray-haired, gray-headed, grey old - (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age; "his mother is very old"; "a ripe old age"; "how old are you?"
	3.	gray - used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms); "a stalwart grey figure" grey southern - in or characteristic of a region of the United States south of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line; "southern hospitality"; "southern cooking"; "southern plantations"
	4.	gray - intermediate in character or position; "a grey area between clearly legal and strictly illegal" grey intermediate - lying between two extremes in time or space or state; "going from sitting to standing without intermediate pushes with the hands"; "intermediate stages in a process"; "intermediate stops on the route"; "an intermediate range plane"

Translations

gray grey

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Gray → رمادي šedý grå grau γκρίζος gris harmaa gris siv grigio 灰色の 회색의 grijs grå szary cinzento серый grå สีเทา gri xám 灰色的