—adj.
1 of a colour intermediate between black and white, as of ashes or lead.
2 a (of the weather etc.) dull, dismal; heavily overcast. b bleak, depressing; (of a person) depressed.
3 a (of hair) turning white with age etc. b (of a person) having grey hair.
4 anonymous, nondescript, unidentifiable.
—n.
1 a a grey colour or pigment. b grey clothes or material (dressed in grey).
2 a cold sunless light.
3 a grey or white horse.
—v.tr. & intr. make or become grey.
Phrases and idioms:
grey area
1 a situation or topic sharing features of more than one category and not clearly attributable to any one category.
2 S.Afr. an area where Black and Coloured people live (usu. illicitly) alongside White.
3 Brit. an area in economic decline. grey eminence = EacuteMINENCE GRISE. Grey Friar a Franciscan friar. grey goose = GREYLAG. grey-hen the female of the black grouse (cf. BLACKCOCK).
grey matter
1 the darker tissues of the brain and spinal cord consisting of nerve-cell bodies and branching dendrites.
2 colloq. intelligence. grey squirrel an American squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, brought to Europe in the 19th c.
Derivatives:
greyish adj. greyly adv. greyness n.
Etymology: OE graeligg f. Gmc
Useful english dictionary. 2012.