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grayness

 - 5 dictionary results

gray

1  [grey] adjective, -er, -est, noun, verb
Use grayness in a Sentence
–adjective
1. of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.
2. dark, dismal, or gloomy: gray skies.
3. dull, dreary, or monotonous.
4. having gray hair; gray-headed.
5. pertaining to old age; mature.
6. Informal. pertaining to, involving, or composed of older persons: gray households.
7. old or ancient.
8. indeterminate and intermediate in character: The tax audit concentrated on deductions in the gray area between purely personal and purely business expenses.
–noun
9. any achromatic color; any color with zero chroma, intermediate between white and black.
10. something of this color.
11. gray material or clothing: to dress in gray.
12. an unbleached and undyed condition.
13. (often initial capital letter) a member of the Confederate army in the American Civil War or the army itself. Compare blue (def. 5).
14. a horse of a gray color.
15. a horse that appears white but is not an albino.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
16. to make or become gray.
Also, grey.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE grǣg; c. G grau

Related forms:
grayly, adverb
grayness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To grayness
gray 1 also grey   (grā)   
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.

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

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

    3. Having gray hair; hoary.

    4. Old or venerable.

    1. Having gray hair; hoary.

    2. 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

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

    2. 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.

    1. To become old; age.

    2. 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).


[Middle English grei, from Old English grǣg.]
gray'ly adj., gray'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

gray 
O.E. græg (Mercian grei), from P.Gmc. *græwyaz (cf. O.N. grar, O.Fris. gre, Du. graw, Ger. grau), from PIE *ghreghwos, but no certain cognates outside Gmc. The distinction between British grey and U.S. gray developed 20c. Gray as figurative for "Southern troops in the U.S. Civil War" is first recorded 1863, in reference to their uniform color.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2gray
Pronunciation: 'grA
Function: noun
: the mks unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of one joule perkilogram of irradiated material —abbreviation Gy
Gray, Louis Harold (1905–1965), British radiobiologist. In 1933 Gray established a physics laboratory tomeasure radiation in the treatment of cancer at Mount Vernon Hospital, Middlesex, England. Earlier he and Sir W. H. Bragg had formulated a theory for deducing the energy absorbed by a material exposedto gamma rays from the ionization within a small gas-filled cavity in the material. At Mount Vernon he was to apply his theory to X rays and later, in modified form, to neutrons. Gray expressed theneutron dose values in energy units, anticipating the International Commission on Radiological Units, which in 1953 adopted the rad as the unit for measuring all types of ionizing radiation. In 1975the Commission adopted the gray as the physical unit of dose.
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Gray (grā), Henry. 1825?-1861.

British anatomist whose work Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical (1858), known as Gray's Anatomy, remains a standard text.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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