hoary

adj

1. White, whitish, or greyish-white.

   “As hoary frost with spangles doth attire, The mossy braunches of an oke halfe ded,”

   “But hoary Winter, unadorn'd and bare, Dwells in the dire Retreat, and freezes there.”

2. White or grey with age.

   “The old man bowed his hoary head in acquiescence.”

   “And ever and anon a silent tear Stole down, and trickled from his hoary beard.”

   “And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.”

   “My first thought was, he lied in every word, That hoary cripple, with malicious eye Askance to watch the working of his lie On mine […]”

3. Of a pale silvery grey.
4. Covered with short, dense, greyish white hairs.
5. (figuratively)Old or old-fashioned; trite.

   “It was, however, most interesting work, and the moulders themselves were a decent crowd, never tired of making jokes about themselves such as the hoary one that moulders did not live long, which however ran counter to the other one that no germs could live in a foundry—the atmosphere was too foul.”

   “In its God-like prime, The Simpsons attacked well-worn satirical fodder from unexpected angles, finding fresh laughs in the hoariest of subjects.”

   “Nevertheless, the hoary capitalist principle of innovation and competition leading to consolidation and monopoly still operated.”

6. (obsolete)Remote in time past.

   “The probability of these flattering fictions could no longer be examined, when the hoary antiquity of such traditions had gained them veneration. An adventure of ancient date was in blind after-ages too readily received as truth.”

   “Plant and animal species of hoary antiquity or at an evolutionary dead end seem similarly outdated. Remnant exemplars of the coelacanth, the tuatara, the Joshua tree are anachronisms more at home in previous than present environments.”

7. (obsolete)Moldy; mossy; musty.