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hoary

- 4 dictionary results

hoar⋅y

  [hawr-ee, hohr-ee]
Use hoary in a Sentence
–adjective, hoar⋅i⋅er, hoar⋅i⋅est.
1. gray or white with age: an old dog with a hoary muzzle.
2. ancient or venerable: hoary myths.
3. tedious from familiarity; stale: Please don't tell that hoary joke at dinner again tonight.
Origin:
1520–30; hoar + -y 1

Related forms:
hoar⋅i⋅ly, adverb
hoar⋅i⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. grizzled, grizzly; hoar. 2. old, dated, aged; venerated, revered.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hoary
hoar·y   (hôr'ē, hōr'ē)   
adj.   hoar·i·er, hoar·i·est
  1. Gray or white with or as if with age.
  2. Covered with grayish hair or pubescence: hoary leaves.
  3. So old as to inspire veneration; ancient.
hoar'i·ly adv., hoar'i·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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Hoary

Hoar"y\, a. 1. White or whitish. "The hoary willows." --Addison.

2. White or gray with age; hoar; as, hoary hairs.

Reverence the hoary head. --Dr. T. Dwight.

3. Hence, remote in time past; as, hoary antiquity.

4. Moldy; mossy; musty. [Obs.] --Knolles.

5. (Zo["o]l.) Of a pale silvery gray.

6. (Bot.) Covered with short, dense, grayish white hairs; canescent.

Hoary bat (Zo["o]l.), an American bat (Atalapha cinerea), having the hair yellowish, or brown, tipped with white.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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hoary 
1520, "grey or white with age" (of hair), 1609 as "venerable, ancient." See hoar.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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