Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday July 26, 2000
hoary \HAWR-ee\
, adjective:
1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.
Compare that with the elements of a musical in about 1920: the star in a cliche story that was merely a framing device for generic musical numbers, hoary joke-book gags, and the usual specialty performers in a staging more often than not by a hack.
-- Ethan Mordden, Coming Up Roses
Had Mozart lived to the hoary old age of 73, he might indeed have fallen out of favor in an era besotted with Rossini, becoming a "largely forgotten, neglected, unperformed composer."
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Crime", New York Times, June 23, 1996
Hoary derives from Middle English hor, from Old English har, "gray; old (and gray-haired)."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for hoary
