1. Of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
   "gray flannel suit";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn], greyish [Brit, Cdn], grayish [US]
    
2. Showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair
   "whose beard with age is gray"; "The gray-haired gentleman shared stories from his youth";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn], grey-haired [Brit, Cdn], gray-haired [US], grey-headed [Brit, Cdn], gray-headed [US], grizzly, hoar [archaic], hoary, white-haired
    
3. Intermediate in character or position
   "a gray area between clearly legal and strictly illegal";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]
    
4. Used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)
   "a stalwart gray figure";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]

1. A neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
   "The gray of the cloudy sky matched her somber mood";
   - grayness [US], grey [Brit, Cdn], greyness [Brit, Cdn]
    
2. Clothing that is a gray color
   "he was dressed in gray";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]
    
3. Horse of a light gray or whitish color
   "The gray's coat shimmered like silver";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]
    
4. Any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey
   "the Confederate army was a vast gray";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]
    
5. 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
   "The radiation dose was measured in grays";
   - Gy, grey [Brit, Cdn]

1. Turn grey
   "Her hair began to gray";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]
    
2. Make grey
   "The painter decided to gray the sky";
   - grey [Brit, Cdn]

1. American navigator who twice circumnavigated the globe and who discovered the Columbia River (1755-1806)
   - Robert Gray
    
2. 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
    
3. 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
    
4. English poet best known for his elegy written in a country churchyard (1716-1771)
   - Thomas Gray

Derived forms: grayed, grayer, grayest, grays, graying

See also: achromatic, intermediate, neutral, old, southern

Type of: achromatic color [US], achromatic colour [Brit, Cdn], article of clothing, botanist, clothing, color [US], color in [US], colorise [Brit], colorize [US], colour [Brit, Cdn], colour in [Brit, Cdn], colourise [Brit], colourize [Brit, Cdn], discolor [US], discolour [Brit, Cdn], duds [informal], habiliment [archaic], mount, navigator, org [informal], organisation [Brit], organization, phytologist, plant scientist, poet, radioactivity unit, radiobiologist, riding horse, saddle horse, threads [informal], togs [informal], vesture [archaic], wear, wearable

Encyclopedia: Gray, Mark