7 results for: hoary

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

hoar·y

Audio Help [hawr-ee, hohr-ee] Pronunciation Key

–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 + -y¹

]

—Related forms

hoar·i·ly, adverb

hoar·i·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. grizzled, grizzly; hoar. 2. old, dated, aged; venerated, revered.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
hoary

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

hoar·y Audio Help (hôr'ē, hōr'ē) Pronunciation Key
adj. hoar·i·er, hoar·i·est

Gray or white with or as if with age.
Covered with grayish hair or pubescence: hoary leaves.
So old as to inspire veneration; ancient.

hoar'i·ly adv., hoar'i·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
hoary

1520, "grey or white with age" (of hair), 1609 as "venerable, ancient." See hoar.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

hoary
adjective
1.	showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair; "whose beard with age is hoar"-Coleridge; "nodded his hoary head"
2.	ancient; "hoary jokes"
3.	covered with fine whitish hairs or down [syn: canescent]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Hoary

Hoar\, a. [OE. hor, har, AS. h[=a]r; akin to Icel. h[=a]rr, and to OHG. h[=e]r illustrious, magnificent; cf. Icel. Hei[eth] brightness of the sky, Goth. hais torch, Skr. k[=e]tus light, torch. Cf. Hoary.]

1. White, or grayish white; as, hoar frost; hoar cliffs. "Hoar waters." --Spenser.

2. Gray or white with age; hoary.

Whose beard with age is hoar. --Coleridge.

Old trees with trunks all hoar. --Byron.

3. Musty; moldy; stale. [Obs.] --Shak.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

hoary

hoary was Word of the Day on July 26, 2000.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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