Grayback, subs. (common).—1. A louse. Also Scots Greys. Fr., un
grenadier. For synonyms, see Chates.
2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his
uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants. Cf., sense 1.] See
Blue-bellies.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies,
during the great Civil War in America ... were known ... as
Greybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure
gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’
1890. Scribner’s Mag. Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such
abject fear of the graybacks that she regarded the possession of so
large a sum as simply inviting destruction.
Gray-beard, subs. (colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1. Grey-beard,
thy love doth freeze.
a. 1845. Longfellow, Luck of Eden Hall. The gray-beard, with
trembling hand obeys.
2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware
jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with
which they were ornamented.]
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs,
used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at
this time called grey-beards.
1814. Scott, Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in the
grey-beard.
1886. The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held
in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in
America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the
Scotch to call a whisky jar a grey-beard.
Gray-cloak, subs. (common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his
proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]
Gray-goose, subs. (Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the
ground.
1816. Scott, Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think,
wi’ the grey-geese as they ca’ thae great loose stones.
Grayhound, subs. (general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially
built for speed. Also ocean grayhound.
1887. Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in
the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have
already become formidable rivals to the English grey hound.
2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare
College; a clarian.
1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare ... were
called grayhounds.
Gray-mare, subs. (common).—A wife; specifically one who wears the
breeches (q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’
= the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests
were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse: Non enim licuerat
pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam in equâ
equitare.—Beda, Hist. Eccl. ii., 13. Fr., mariage d’epervier = a hawk’s
marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord
Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]
1546. John Haywood, Proverbs [Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is
(quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that the grey mare
is the better horse.
1550. A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of
Women Now a Dayes (in Hazlitt’s Early Popular Poetry, iv., 237).
What! shall the graye mayre be the better horse, And be wanton
styll at home?
1605. Camden, Remains Concerning Britain [ed. 1870, p. 332]. In
list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)
1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.
1698–1750. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if
the grey mare was the better Horse; and deny’d him Enterance for
keeping late Hours.
1705–1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5.
There’s no resisting Female Force, Grey mare will prove the better
Horse.
1717. Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Manley’s Lucius. As long as we have
eyes, or hands, or breath, We’ll look, or write, or talk you all to
death. Yield, or she-Pegasus will gain her course, And the grey
mare will prove the better horse.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., p. 240. For the grey mare has proved the
better horse.
1738. Swift, Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married; but
I doubt the gray mare would prove the better horse.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I
learned the gray mare was the better horse—that she was a matron of
a high spirit.
1819. Macaulay, Hist. England. The vulgar proverb, that the grey
mare is the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference
generally given to the grey mares of Flanders over the finest coach
horses of England.
1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2.
She [Mrs. Romford], did not over-accentuate either her
strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband; but she
let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all
respects the grey mare in the Romford stable.
Gray-parson (or Gray-coat parson), subs. (old).—A lay impropriator, or
lessee of tithes.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the
tythes of the rector or vicar.
1830 in Cobbett’s Rural Rides, vol. I., p. 123 note (ed. 1886). The
late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes,
the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of the grey-coated
parson.
Grease, subs. (common).—1. A bribe; palm-oil (or -grease). (q.v. for
synonyms). In America Boodle (q.v.). greasing = bribing.
1823. Bee, Dict. of Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause
of anyone.