grizzled, a.
(ˈgrɪz(ə)ld)
Also 5 grecelled, griseld, 6–7 gryseld(e, (6 greistled, 7 grisseld, grizeld, 8 grizled), 6–9 grisled.
[f. grizzle a. + -ed2. Cf. obs. F. grisellé (Palsgr.), on which the Eng. word might have been directly formed, but evidence is wanting.]
1. Grey, grizzly; now used almost exclusively of hair. Also (now dial.), roan-coloured.
| 1458 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) II. 216 A lytill grecelled nage. 1485 Inv. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 372 Equus griseld. 1530 Palsgr. 314/1 Graye or gryselde, grisellé. 1595 Nottingham Rec. IV. 64 Et quarta est coloris grey greistled. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 103 Cats are of diuers colours, but for the most part gryseld, like to congealed yse. 1608 Shakes. Per. iii. Prol. 47 The grisled North Disgorges such a tempest forth. 1611 Bible Zech. vi. 3 In the third charet white horses and in the fourth charet grisled and bay horses. 1660 Trial Regic. (1679) 273 The other had a grey grisled periwig hung down very low. 1728 Young Love Fame v. (1757) 137 Her grizzled locks assume a smirking grace. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. iv, His grisled beard and matted hair. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop iii, Such hair as he had, was of a grizzled black. 1876 T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 312 Ethelberta..entering the nave began to inspect the sallow monuments which lined the grizzled pile. |
b. grizzled sandpiper, grizzled skipper: see the ns.
2. Having grey hair.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 17 To the Boy Cæsar send this grizled head. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxviii, Torquil of the Oak, a grizzled giant. 1877 Black Green Past. xi. (1878) 86 The only occupant of the yard was a grizzled and feeble old man. 1886 J. R. Rees Pleas. Bk.-Worm i. 22 With his serious old grizzled face he appears at the office. |