grey

• gray (often used in the US)

From Middle English grey, from Old English grǣġ, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”) (compare Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”)).

• enPR: grā, IPA^(key): /ɡɹeɪ/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

grey (comparative greyer or more grey, superlative greyest or most grey)

1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     These grey and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks.

2. (South Africa, slang) Synonym of coloured (pertaining to the mixed race of black and white).[1]

grey (third-person singular simple present greys, present participle greying, simple past and past participle greyed)

1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck‎:

     Now only a few hand-hewn cedar planks and roof beams remained, moss-grown and sagging—a few totem poles, greyed and split.

grey (plural greys)

1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, / That costs thy life, my gallant grey.

   • 1833, Sporting Magazine, volume 6, page 400:

     Pioneer seemed now to have the game in his own hands; but the Captain, by taking two desperate leaps, cut off a corner, by which he regained the ground he had lost by the fall, and was up with the grey the remainder of the chase.

• greys

• -ergy, gyre

From Old Norse grey, from Proto-Germanic *grawją, cognate with Faroese groyggj. Original meaning -meager dog (greyhound), whereas in English the semantic developed to simply a lean dog, this was transferred mostly from the dogs all together to mean a -poor little thing - a poor person. the semantic change to something poor has already taken place in the old language.

• IPA^(key): /kreiː/
• Rhymes: -eiː

grey n (genitive singular greys, nominative plural grey)

1. (archaic) bitch (female dog)
2. wretch, pitiful person

   Greyið mitt!

   You poor little thing!

   Greyið Jón

   Poor John

3. indefinite accusative singular of grey
4. indefinite nominative plural of grey
5. indefinite accusative plural of grey

• grei, gray, grai, greye, gry, græi, gro, gra, greȝe, greiȝe

From Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz.

• IPA^(key): /ɡræi̯/
• Rhymes: -æi̯

grey (plural and weak singular greye)

1. grey, dull, drab (in color)
2. glinting, glistening

• English: gray, grey
• Scots: gray
• Yola: gry

• “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.

grey

1. grey (colour)
2. Fur of the grey squirrel
3. grey clothes
4. grey textiles
5. An elderly man
6. A badger

• English: gray, grey
• Scots: gray
• Yola: gry

• “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
• “grei, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
• “grei, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.

grey m (plural greys)

1. Alternative form of gray (race of extraterrestrials)

Inherited from Old Spanish grey, from Latin gregem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾei/ [ˈɡɾei̯]
• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: grey

grey f (plural greyes)

1. (obsolete, poetic) flock, herd

   Synonyms: rebaño, rehala

2. (religion) flock (people served by a pastor, priest, etc., also all believers in a church or religion)

   Synonyms: rebaño, feligresía, congregación, iglesia

   • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:

     toda la grey díscola y ladina de aquellas verdes montañas

     the whole rebellious and cunning flock from those green mountains

• (animals): ganado, hato, parvada, manada, jauría, cardumen, enjambre

• “grey”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1983–1991) “grey”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos, page 208