hoary

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   White, whitish, or greyish-white.

   • As hoary frost with spangles doth attire, The mossy braunches of an oke halfe ded,
   • But hoary Winter, unadorn'd and bare, Dwells in the dire Retreat, and freezes there.
2. 2

   White or grey with age.

   • The old man bowed his hoary head in acquiescence.
   • And ever and anon a silent tear Stole down, and trickled from his hoary beard.
   • And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
3. 3

   Of a pale silvery grey.

4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Covered with short, dense, greyish white hairs.

   2. 5

      Old or old-fashioned

      Old or old-fashioned; trite.

      • In its God-like prime, The Simpsons attacked well-worn satirical fodder from unexpected angles, finding fresh laughs in the hoariest of subjects.
      • Nevertheless, the hoary capitalist principle of innovation and competition leading to consolidation and monopoly still operated.
   3. 6

      Remote in time past.

      • The probability of these flattering fictions could no longer be examined, when the hoary antiquity of such traditions had gained them veneration. An adventure of ancient date was in blind after-ages too readily received as truth.
      • Plant and animal species of hoary antiquity or at an evolutionary dead end seem similarly outdated. Remnant exemplars of the coelacanth, the tuatara, the Joshua tree are anachronisms more at home in previous than present environments.
   4. 7

      Moldy

      Moldy; mossy; musty.

The neighborhood

• neighborhoar