hoaryadj.
/ˈhɔːri/, U.S. /ˈhɔri/ 1.
a. Of the hair, head, or beard: grey or white with age.
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the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > grey, hoary
grey1207
hoarc1290
frostya1450
forhoaredc1450
grizzled1458
hoary1530
hoared1557
greyish1567
wintry1579
silver1590
silveredc1600
silver-grey1607
frosted1628
iron-grey1809
iron-greyed1826
grizzly1843
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 315/2 Hoory as a man or beestes heare is, chaneu.
a1547 Earl of Surrey Poems (1964) 19 What will she do when hory heares are powdred in her hedde.
1611 Bible (King James) Lev. xix. 32 Thou shalt rise vp before the hoary head. View more context for this quotation
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles iv. xix. 153 Veterans..Whose helmets press'd their hoary hair.
1885 R. Buchanan Annan Water i With hoary bushy eyebrows.
b. Having white or grey hair, grey-haired.
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the world > life > the body > hair > colour of hair > [adjective] > grey, hoary > having
hoarc1290
grey?c1335
grey-haireda1425
hasard1513
grey-headed1535
hoar-headed1561
hoary1580
grizzleda1616
silver-headed1643
silver-haired1665
1580 Baret's Aluearie (rev. ed.) H 486 To waxe Hoarie [1574 Hoare], or white headed, incanesco.
1682 J. Dryden Mac Flecknoe 8 The Hoary Prince in Majesty appear'd.
1737 R. Glover Leonidas i. 55 Her sons, her matrons, and her hoary sires.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. viii. 186 Men like the hoary sinner..instinctively saw in him the destined enemy of his kind.
c. Ancient; venerable from age, time-honoured.
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the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [adjective] > ancient or of early origin
oldeOE
olden daysa1400
for-oldc1400
ancient1475
(as) old as Adama1599
antiquary1599
high1601
primal1604
hoary1609
grandeval1650
Noachal1661
patriarchal1806
(as) old as the hills1819
world-old1837
eld1854
age-old1860
far-back1869
Noachian1874
pornial1883
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. B2v Venerable father of ancient (and therefore hoary) customes.
1630 W. Prynne Anti-Arminianisme 238 Hoarie English Antiquities.
1781 W. Cowper Expostulation 596 Windsor's hoary towers.
1852 F. W. Robertson Serm. 3rd Ser. xviii. 232 A hoary and most remote antiquity.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiv. 1 Born on Pelion height, so legend hoary relateth.
2. Of colour: grey, greyish white.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > grey or greyness > [adjective] > hoary
hoarOE
for-hoar?a1366
hoarisha1398
hoary1579
mouldish1648
incanescent1866
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Feb. 79 Clothed with cold, and hoary wyth frost.
1580 Baret's Aluearie (rev. ed.) H 493 A hoarie [1574 hoare] frost, cana pruina.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 891 The secrets of the hoarie deep. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 76 With Ethiops hoary Trees and woolly Wood. View more context for this quotation
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 830 Winter's hoary wing.
1809 R. Heber Europe 258 The hoary poplars wave.
1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 7 Below lay a sea, still as death and hoary in the moon.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > [adjective] > mouldy or musty
fennyc1000
vinnyOE
mouleda1250
moulya1398
mouldena1400
spaked1438
vinniedc1450
mouldy1495
hoared1496
mustyc1503
foisty1519
mocha1522
hoary1530
hoar1544
mouldeda1552
mowsy1566
foistied1572
fustied1576
spaky1590
musted1632
mouldish1648
emucid1656
mucid1656
mungy1658
mouldly1678
foisted1688
mothery1697
vinnewya1722
rusty-fustya1790
musty-fusty1857
mucidous1866
blue-vinnied1880
blue-veined1898
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > corruption or putridness > [adjective] > musty or mouldy
fennyc1000
vinnyOE
mouleda1250
moulya1398
mouldena1400
spaked1438
vinniedc1450
mouldy1495
hoared1496
mustyc1503
foisty1519
hoary1530
moskin1531
hoar1544
mouldeda1552
foistied1572
mustied1572
fustied1576
spaky1590
mildewed1605
musted1632
mucid1656
mungy1658
foisted1688
vinnewya1722
mochy1825
musty-smelling1852
musty-fusty1857
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 315/2 Hoory as meate that is kepte to longe, fleury.
?1566 tr. Ælfric's Testimonie Antiq. f. 63 Some pristes keepe the housell..all the yere for syke men. But they doe greatlye amysse, bycause it waxeth horye.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 624 Hoarie, moulded bread.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Dict. in Compl. Gard'ner sig. Aiiiv Musty, Mouldy, or Hoary Dung.
4.
a. Botany and Entomology. Covered with short dense white or whitish hairs; canescent.
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the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > villosity or ciliation > [adjective] > hairiness
hoary1597
hirsute1626
pilous1658
piliferous1698
hirsuted1707
pilose1712
piligerous1835
pileous1842
pilar1858
stuppeous1860
piline1887
pilary1888
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 8 Soft and downie, and somewhat hoarie.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iv. §6. 112 That whose leaves are bigger, and hoary all over.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 725 Whole plant hoary with a dense cottony substance.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 28 Perennial hoary herbs.
b. Hence used to designate species of plants and animals so clothed; often rendering Latin canus, incanus, etc.: as hoary alder, hoary creeper, hoary mullein, hoary stock, etc. hoary marmot n. = whistler n. 2b. hoary pea n. the genus Tephrosia, which has leaves covered with a grey down (Miller 1884). hoary plantain n. Plantago media.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > [noun] > family Sciuridae (squirrel) > genus Marmota > marmota caligata (hoary marmot)
siffleur1703
whistler1703
hoary marmot1781
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Plantaginaceae > [noun]
waybreadeOE
ribeOE
psylliumOE
waybread leafOE
plantaina1325
herb Ivec1386
ersworta1400
psyllya1425
flea-seed1562
buck's-horn plantain1578
fleabane1578
hartshorn1578
lamb's tongue1578
rose plantain1597
rose ribwort1597
globularia1728
fire-leaves1796
ribwort1846
hoary plantain1861
goatweed1864
hartshorn plantain-
1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 398 Hoary Marmot.
1811 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VIII. 261 Hoary Creeper, Certhia canescens..bill stout and black.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands III. 314 The white willow, and the common and hoary alder, form thickets.
1861 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. IV. 259 Plantago media (Hoary Plantain)..The leaves make a good astringent lotion.
c. In names of animals having a hoary appearance (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > markings or colourings > [adjective] > hoary or powdery
mealy1609
hoary1781
1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 398 Hoary M[armot] with the tip of the nose black..hair universally rude and long; that on the back, sides and belly cinereous at the root, black in the middle, whitish at the tip, so that the animal has a hoary appearance.
1829 J. Richardson Fauna Boreali-Americana I. 150 Hoary marmot, with long coarse fur, particularly on the chest and shoulders, where it is hoary.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 183 The Hoary Double Crescent..frequents ash-trees.
1903 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 19 539 Marmotta caligata (Eschscholtz). Hoary marmot.
1948 W. J. Stokoe Caterpillars Brit. Moths I. 151 (heading) The Hoary Footman.
1954 O. J. Murie Field Guide to Animal Tracks 136 The hoary marmot has also sought the high mountains.
1959 E. R. Hall & K. R. Kelson Mammals N. Amer. I. 192/1 The hoary bat is solitary and roosts in trees and shrubs.
d. In names of moths and butterflies having a hoary or ashy appearance (see quot. 1832).
ΚΠ
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 211 The Hoary Grey... Wings ten lines to ten lines and a half; first pair hoary or ashy.
Compounds
C1. Parasynthetic, as hoary-dated, hoary-feathered, hoary-haired, hoary-headed, hoary-herbaged, hoary-vested, etc.
C2. With another adjective, as hoary-pubescent, etc.
ΚΠ
1601 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor v. i. sig. K3 This hoary headed letcher, this olde goate. View more context for this quotation
1771 J. Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 61 When he is old and hoary-haired.
1797 T. Park Sonnets 8 Classic Eton's hoary-vested towers.
1831 G. Don Gardener's Dict. I. xvii Hoary-pubescent, covered with white down which is pressed to the surface.
1831 G. Don Gardener's Dict. I. xvii Hoary-villous, covered with white villi.
1847 W. E. Steele Handbk. Field Bot. 53 Leaves hoary-white beneath.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 16 There musing sat the hoary-headed Earl.
1876 J. S. Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 11 A hoary-dated Patriarch pedigree.
Draft additions September 2013
hoary cress n. either of two white-flowered cruciferous plants, (in early use) Lepidium heterophyllum of northwest Europe and (in later use) Lepidium draba, originally of western Asia and eastern Europe and now widespread in temperate regions, where it is often considered a weed.
ΚΠ
1821 S. F. Gray Nat. Arrangem. Brit. Plants II. 694 Rough pepperwort... Hoary cress.
1888 Gardeners' Chron. 19 May 627/2 I was bold enough to try a salad of the Hoary Cress (Lepidium Draba).
1954 E. W. Eckey Veg. Fats & Oils xiv. 445 Another weed of the western states whose seed oil has been examined is white top or hoary cress, Lepidium draba.
2008 Sunday Times (Nexis) 12 Oct. (In Gear section) 4 Wild Food..will teach you how to recognise edible plants such as hoary cress and sea plantain.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1530