Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun a man who is old.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An old man.
  • noun Metaphorically, any of the members of a group who have been there the longest (regardless of actual age or gender.)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a stoneware drinking jug with a long neck; decorated with a caricature of Cardinal Bellarmine (17th century)
  • noun a man who is very old

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

grey + beard; men of advanced age would be expected to have a grey beard.

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Examples

  • Jack Straw - Mr Brown's loyal "greybeard" - will stay as Justice Secretary.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2009

  • Then ships bearing news might reach Alexandria by the dozen -- that is, the greybeard added with a defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman -- if they were allowed to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Georg Ebers Works Georg Ebers 1867

  • Then ships bearing news might reach Alexandria by the dozen -- that is, the greybeard added with a defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman -- if they were allowed to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.

    Cleopatra — Volume 03 Georg Ebers 1867

  • Then ships bearing news might reach Alexandria by the dozen -- that is, the greybeard added with a defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman -- if they were allowed to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.

    Cleopatra — Volume 03 Georg Ebers 1867

  • Then ships bearing news might reach Alexandria by the dozen -- that is, the greybeard added with a defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman -- if they were allowed to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.

    Cleopatra — Volume 03 Georg Ebers 1867

  • Then ships bearing news might reach Alexandria by the dozen -- that is, the greybeard added with a defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman -- if they were allowed to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.

    Cleopatra — Complete Georg Ebers 1867

  • The hero of the tale squeezes whey out of a piece of cheese or curd which he passes off as a stone; he induces the fleet demon to compete with his "Hop o 'my Thumb" the hare; he sets the strong demon to wrestle with his "greybeard" the bear; he frightens the

    Russian Fairy Tales A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore William Ralston Shedden Ralston 1858

  • Our plentiful though homely meal was soon discussed, for hunger, like a good conscience, can laugh at luxury; and the "greybeard" made its appearance, with the usual accompaniments of hot water and maple sugar, which Judy had scraped from the cake, and placed in a saucer on the table before us.

    Roughing It in the Bush 1852

  • She could not "call up spirits from the vasty deep" of the cellar, but she had procured some whiskey from her next-door neighbour – some five or six miles off, and there it stood somewhat ostentatiously on the table in a "greybeard," with a "corn cob," or ear of Indian corn stripped of its grain, for a cork, smiling most benevolently on the family circle, and looking a hundred welcomes to the strangers.

    Roughing It in the Bush 1852

  • Our plentiful though homely meal was soon discussed, for hunger, like a good conscience, can laugh at luxury; and the "greybeard" made its appearance, with the usual accompaniments of hot water and maple sugar, which Judy had scraped from the cake, and placed in a saucer on the table before us.

    Roughing It in the Bush Susanna Moodie 1844

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