hoary
/ˈhɔːri
/adjective (hoarier, hoariest)
1Greyish white: hoary cobwebs...
- The painstakingly raised and restored Vasa and Mary Rose, favourites of Kings Gustavus Adolphus and Henry VIII respectively, are threatened by a chemical reaction as their hoary old timbers dry out.
- The Fifth Commandment of the Bible reminds us to honor our fathers and mothers and to ‘rise up before the hoary head of the old man, to pay respect to the elders of the tribe’.
- And even if you could never bring yourself to back England, there is some good news - now they've finally won a World Cup, those hoary old pictures of the 1966 final might finally get put to the back of the cupboard.
Synonyms
greyish-white, grey, white, silver, silvery;
frost-covered, frosty, rimy
1.1(Of a person) old and having grey or white hair: young lasses imprisoned by hoary old husbands...
- He stands to guide me to the door, then stops to point out a photo of himself looking somewhat starstruck and goofy-grinned beside four hoary men, his mayoral predecessors.
- Dropping the pencil abruptly, she looks up at her hoary teacher, ‘Ma'am?’
- No, what's really disturbing about the whole phenomenon is the emergence of a new breed of hoary old pop marketing men who don't even feel the need to pretend they are anything else.
Synonyms
elderly, aged, old, getting on, ancient, venerable, long in the tooth, of an advanced age, advanced in years;
grey-haired, white-haired, silver-haired, silvery-haired, grizzled, grizzly
informal past it, over the hill
rare longevous, senescent
1.2 [attributive] Used in names of animals and plants covered with whitish fur or short hairs, e.g. hoary bat, hoary cress.No amphibian or terrestrial reptile, and only one terrestrial mammal, the hoary bat, completed the journey on its own....
- Ms Lloyd said hoary cress had an extensive root system that choked grain and horticulture crops and pastures.
- Ross reported that 136 of 139 stomachs of hoary bats from New Mexico contained moths; flying ants were in 9 bats.
2Overused and unoriginal; trite: the hoary old adage often used by Fleet Street editors...
- Can we just agree on that, and never see these hoary and overused devices again?
- Like the hoary old cliché, ‘Oh, I only watch the documentaries on TV not those dreadful soaps!’
- My other hope is that all the Councillors will move beyond their personal interests and hoary old arguments to support the Mayor and an outcome that is the only feasible option for Lismore.
Synonyms
trite, hackneyed, clichéd, banal, platitudinous, vapid, ordinary, commonplace, common, stock, conventional, stereotyped, predictable, overused, overdone, overworked, stale, worn out, time-worn, tired, threadbare, hack, unimaginative, unoriginal, derivative, uninspired, prosaic, routine, pedestrian, run-of-the-mill
informal old hat, corny, hacky, played out
North American informal cornball, dime-store
rare truistic, bromidic
Derivatives
hoarily
- However, I'm going to scream if I see one more hoarily unfunny "joke".
- That said, to pretend that rises in salaries have been accompanied in inverse proportion by a decline in manners and honesty is to buy into the hoarily romantic old theory, and wholly unproveable assumption, that previous generations were more honourable.
hoariness
/ noun ...- The hoariness of the adage does not reduce its truth.
- Their broad leaves instead of appearing glossy and green as usual, now are dusted with pale, silvery hoariness.
- Surely my bones are weakened and my head flares with hoariness!