adj., n., & v. (US gray)
adj. 1 of a colour intermediate between black and white, as of ashes or lead. 2 a (of the weather etc.) dull, dismal; heavily overcast. b bleak, depressing; (of a person) depressed. 3 a (of hair) turning white with age etc. b (of a person) having grey hair. 4 anonymous, nondescript, unidentifiable.
n. 1 a a grey colour or pigment. b grey clothes or material (dressed in grey). 2 a cold sunless light. 3 a grey or white horse.
v.tr. & intr. make or become grey. grey area 1 a situation or topic sharing features of more than one category and not clearly attributable to any one category. 2 S.Afr. an area where Black and Coloured people live (usu. illicitly) alongside White. 3 Brit. an area in economic decline. grey eminence = MINENCE GRISE. Grey Friar a Franciscan friar. grey goose = GREYLAG. grey-hen the female of the black grouse (cf. BLACKCOCK). grey matter 1 the darker tissues of the brain and spinal cord consisting of nerve-cell bodies and branching dendrites. 2 colloq. intelligence. grey squirrel an American squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, brought to Europe in the 19th c. greyish adj. greyly adv. greyness n.
[ OE grg f. Gmc ]