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.] [[199]]
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.