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Gray vs Bray - What's the difference?

gray | bray |

As verbs the difference between gray and bray

is that gray is to become gray while bray is of a donkey, to make its cry.

As nouns the difference between gray and bray

is that gray is an achromatic colour intermediate between black and white while bray is the cry of an ass or donkey.

As proper nouns the difference between gray and bray

is that gray is {{surname|from=nicknames}}; originally a nickname for someone with a gray beard or hair while Bray is {{surname|lang=en}.

As an adjective gray

is having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember.

gray

English

Alternative forms

* grey (used in the UK and the Commonwealth and also in the US)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ).

Adjective

(er) (spelled "grey" in the UK and the Commonwealth)
  • (label) Having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember.
  • * Isaac Newton
  • (label) Dreary, gloomy.
  • *
  • (label) Having an indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality.
  • (label) Relating to older people.
  • * Ames
    • Usage notes
    A mnemonic for remembering which spelling is used where: gre'''y'' is the '''E'''nglish spelling, while ''gr'''a'''y'' is the '''A merican spelling. However, ''grey is also found in American English.
    Derived terms
    {{der3, battleship gray , gray area , graybeard , gray-haired , grayhound , grayness , gray ghost , gray matter}}

    Verb

    (en-verb) (spelled "grey" in the UK and the Commonwealth)
  • (label) To become gray.
  • (label) To cause to become gray.
  • To turn progressively older, in the context of the population of a geographic region.

    • Noun

  • (en noun) (spelled "grey" in the UK and the Commonwealth)
  • (label) An achromatic colour intermediate between black and white.
  • an extraterrestrial creature with grayish skin, bulbous black eyes, and an enlarged head.
  • A penny with a tail on both sides, used for cheating.Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language , second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 243

    • See also

    *

    References

    Etymology 2

    Named after (Louis Harold Gray).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass. Symbol: Gy
    • Derived terms
    * kilogray
    See also
    *

    Anagrams

    * * English eponyms ----

    bray

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) braire, from ).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • Of a donkey, to make its cry.
    • Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.
  • Of a camel, to make its cry.
  • To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.
    • He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.
  • To make or utter with a loud, discordant, or harsh and grating sound.
  • * Milton
    • Arms on armour clashing, brayed / Horrible discord.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • And varying notes the war pipes brayed .
  • * Gray
    • Heard ye the din of battle bray ?

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The cry of an ass or donkey.
  • The cry of a camel
  • Any harsh, grating, or discordant sound.
  • * Jerrold
    • The bray and roar of multitudinous London.
    Synonyms
    * hee-haw

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) breier (Modern French broyer).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To crush or pound, especially with a mortar.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xxvii. 22
    • Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, p. 141:
    • Their heads and shoulders are painted red with the roote Pocone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle [...].
  • (British, chiefly Yorkshire) By extension, to hit someone or something.
  • * 2011 , , Butchers Perfume'' from ''The Beautiful Indifference , Faber and Faber (2011), page 25:
    • If anything he brayed him all the harder - the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over.