Gray, subs. (thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; a pony (q.v.).
1828. G. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of grays (gaffing-coins).
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154. Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head or a tail on both sides, called a gray.
1868. Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call a grey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it a grey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.
2. (common).—See Grayback, sense 1.
3. in. pl. (colloquial).—Yawning; listlessness. Cf., Blues.
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.