Link Centre Dictionary

hoary

UK/hɔː.ɹi/ US/hɔɹ.i/ uncommon obsolete

adjective

1.

showing characteristics of age, especially having gray or white hair

  • “whose beard with age is hoar” Coleridge
  • “nodded his hoary head”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

ancient

  • “hoary jokes”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

covered with fine whitish hairs or down

Synonyms
Similar

Origin

Possibly from Middle English *hori (suggested by horilocket (“hoary-locked, having hoary locks or curls”)), equivalent to hoar + -y. Alternatively, Middle English horilocket may represent Middle English hor (“hoar, hoary”) + ilocket (“locked”) rather than hori (“hoary”) + locket (“locked”).

Phrases

  • hoary bamboo rat
  • hoary bat
  • hoary fox
  • hoary fringe moss
  • hoary marmot
  • hoary redpoll
  • hoary rockrose
  • hoary zorro

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.