grey-headed, a.
(Stress variable.)
1. Having a grey head of hair. to be or grow grey-headed in, to grow old in, to have served in for a long period; hence, to be well versed or experienced in.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxx. 18 In myne olde age, when I am gray headed. 1644 Vicars God in Mount 75 The grey-headed..Citizens of London. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 517 ¶2 Most of us are grown grey-headed in our dear master's service. 1813 Ld. Ellenborough Parl. Deb. 22 Mar. in Examiner 29 Mar. 199/1 A man grey-headed in the law. 1843 Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Battle Regillus ix, With boys, and with grey-headed men, To keep the walls of Rome. |
| transf. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. vi. §5 Those snowy and gray headed Alps. |
2. fig. Of things:
a. Ancient, old; time-worn.
b. Pertaining to old age, or to aged men.
| 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio A ij, To begin (after the common stampe of dedication) with a grai-headed Apophthegme. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 59 Heresie or abuse, if it be gray-headed, deserves sharper opposition. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. i. 104 Which conceit is not the daughter of latter times, but an old and gray-headed errour, even in the dayes of Aristotle. 1652 Bp. Patrick Funeral Serm. in J. Smith's Sel. Disc. 526 By reason of his wisdom, experience, and gray-headed understanding. 1692 Norris Curs. Refl. 21 That grey-headed venerable Doctrine. 1753 Adventurer No. 25 ¶3 Love is beneath the dignity of grey-headed wisdom. |
3. As an epithet of certain birds;
esp. grey-headed duck, the female of the Golden-eye (
Clangula glaucion).
| 1747 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds I. ii. 127 Picus, viridis, capite cinereo. Grey-headed Green Wood-pecker. 1750 Ibid. II. iii. 154 The Grey-Headed Duck. 1847 Craig, Greyheaded-wagtail, the bird Budytes neglecta, and Motacilla flava of Linnæus. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 160 Golden-eye (Clangula glaucion)..Grey-headed duck. Only applied to the female bird. |
4. Of a male sperm whale;
cf. greyhead 2 b.
| 1839 T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale i. 31 Old ‘bulls’, as full-grown males are called by whalers, have generally a portion of grey on the nose immediately above the fore-part of the upper-jaw, and they are then said to be ‘grey-headed’. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals N.W. Coast N. Amer. viii. 75 Sperm Whale... The oldest males are frequently well-marked with gray about the nose, or upper portion of the head, and when this is indicated, they are called ‘gray-headed’. |