Gray (?), a. [Compar.Grayer (�); superl.Grayest.] [OE. gray, grey, AS. grǣg, grēg; akin to D. graauw, OHG. grāo, G. grau, Dan. graa, Sw. grå, Icel. grār.] [Written also grey.] 1. White mixed with black, as the color of pepper and salt, or of ashes, or of hair whitened by age; sometimes, a dark mixed color; as, the soft gray eye of a dove.
These gray and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks. Sir I. Newton.
2. Gray-haired; gray-headed; of a gray color; hoary.
3. Old; mature; as, gray experience. Ames.
Gray antimony(Min.), stibnite. — Gray buck(Zoöl.), the chickara. — Gray cobalt(Min.), smaltite. — Gray copper(Min.), tetrahedrite. — Gray duck(Zoöl.), the gadwall; also applied to the female mallard. — Gray falcon(Zoöl.) the peregrine falcon. — Gray Friar. See Franciscan, and Friar. — Gray hen(Zoöl.), the female of the blackcock or black grouse. See Heath grouse. — Gray mill or millet(Bot.), a name of several plants of the genus Lithospermum; gromwell. — Gray mullet(Zoöl.) any one of the numerous species of the genus Mugil, or family Mugilidæ, found both in the Old World and America; as the European species (M. capito, and M. auratus), the American striped mullet (M. albula), and the white or silver mullet (M. Braziliensis). See Mullet. — Gray owl(Zoöl.), the European tawny or brown owl (Syrnium aluco). The great gray owl (Ulula cinerea) inhabits arctic America. — Gray parrot(Zoöl.), a parrot (Psittacus erithacus), very commonly domesticated, and noted for its aptness in learning to talk. — Gray pike. (Zoöl.) See Sauger. — Gray snapper(Zoöl.), a Florida fish; the sea lawyer. See Snapper. — Gray snipe(Zoöl.), the dowitcher in winter plumage. — Gray whale(Zoöl.), a rather large and swift California whale (Rhachianectes glaucus), formerly taken in large numbers in the bays; — called also grayback, devilfish, and hardhead.