dynamic
toggle menu
menu
vocabulary
1000+ books

hoary
in a sentence
grouped by contextual meaning

hoary as in:  tells hoary stories

Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    The politician’s speech was filled with hoary clichés that failed to inspire the crowd.
    hoary = trite due to familiarity
  • •
    Once in a while he'd come out with some hoary maxim, served up with a wry irony that did nothing to reduce the boredom quotient;  (source)
  • •
    It isn't just setting, that hoary old English class topic.  (source)
    hoary = old
▲ show less (of above)
Show 10 more
  • •
    Having served enough time in Atlanta with her volunteer work, Mother has moved to the Georgia coast, to a hamlet of hoary little brick houses on Sanderling Island.  (source)
    hoary = old-fashioned
  • •
    The game served as a proxy for the hoary Mississippi class struggle, between the white folks who wore shirts with collars on them and the white folks who did not.  (source)
    hoary = old
  • •
    While the cliche "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" had been echoing in my brain over the almost six years of waiting, I had to consider the truth it offers, like most hoary, oft-repeated ideas.  (source)
    hoary = trite due to familiarity
  • •
    Linguists regard this as a hoary myth, because the "old-time" words or expressions offered as evidence do not add up to what is claimed.  (source)
    hoary = old
  • •
    Leviathan maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to be hoary.  (source)
    hoary = ancient
  • •
    She made such a report of me to her father, that Mr. Oliver himself accompanied her next evening — a tall, massive-featured, middle-aged, and grey-headed man, at whose side his lovely daughter looked like a bright flower near a hoary turret.  (source)
    hoary = old
  • •
    Maege is a hoary old snark, stubborn, short-tempered, and willful.†  (source)
  • •
    They were enormous, pungent, and hoary beasts, and Ishmael and Hatsue stopped to stare at one rubbing his hindquarters against a fence post.†  (source)
  • •
    "Woe, woe, woe!" cries Hrothgar, hoary with winters, peeking in, wide-eyed, from his bedroom in back.†  (source)
  • •
    During the Christmas concert, I look up and see Grandpa Nakane coming down the aisle of the church to sit in front, his hoary white eyebrows lifted high so he can see better.†  (source)
▲ show less (of above)

hoary as in:  hoary old man

•
The hoary old woman had white hair and a twinkle in his eye.
hoary = appearing old and gray
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    The hoary old woman was wrinkled and frail, but she still had a sharp mind.
    hoary = old and gray
  • •
    A supermarket deli tray full of hoary carrots and gnarled celery and a semeny dip sits untouched on a coffee table, cigarettes littered throughout like bonus vegetable sticks.  (source)
    hoary = old
  • •
    At every fork, they kept to the right, making camp at —night amidst the hollows of hoary trees, whose great roots provided shelter from the wind.  (source)
    hoary = appearing old and gray
▲ show less (of above)
Show 5 more
  • •
    Her whole body racked with sobs, she embraced the tree as if it were not a tree, as if it were her long-lost father, a grandfather she had never known, a great-grandfather, a great-great-grandfather, a hoary old man come to her from the depths of time to offer her his face in the form of rough tree bark.  (source)
    hoary = appearing old and gray
  • •
    For that much Jon was grateful …. but he did not believe for a moment that two such hoary old warriors would have hied down from their hills for that alone.  (source)
  • •
    Now, during a conversation of some two or three moments between the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale and this excellent and hoary-bearded deacon, it was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion-supper.  (source)
    hoary = gray
  • •
    "Speak, thou vast and venerable head," muttered Ahab, "which, though ungarnished with a beard, yet here and there lookest hoary with mosses; speak, mighty head, and tell us the secret thing that is in thee."  (source)
    hoary = old (as with gray hair)
  • •
    Mr. Kenneth says he would wager his mare that he'll outlive any man on this side Gimmerton, and go to the grave a hoary sinner; unless some happy chance out of the common course befall him.  (source)
    hoary = old and gray
▲ show less (of above)

hoary as in:  hoary leaves

•
The hoary leaves of the sage plant were soft to the touch, their velvety surface covered in a fine layer of grayish hairs.
hoary = covered with grayish or whitish hairs
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    The hoary stems of the thistle plant were prickly and tough, their whitish hairs providing a stark contrast to the vibrant purple flowers.
  • •
    The root of the hoary, decumbent, and less elegant, but larger flowered Hedysarum mackenzii is poisonous, and nearly killed an old Indian woman at Fort Simpson, who had mistaken it for that of the preceding species.  (source)
  • •
    They dangled under ash and alder, beech and birch, larch and elm, hoary old willows and stately chestnut trees.  (source)
    hoary = with fine grayish/whitish hairs that cover its leaves
▲ show less (of above)
Show 3 more
  • •
    He lifted his heavy eyes and saw leaning over him a huge willow-tree, old and hoary.  (source)
    hoary = a type with fine grayish or whitish hairs on the leaves
  • •
    At the edge of the heath stood a clump of hoary juniper bushes.  (source)
    hoary = with fine grayish/whitish hairs that cover its leaves and branches
  • •
    Heed no hoary willow!  (source)
    hoary = a type with fine grayish or whitish hairs on the leaves
▲ show less (of above)

hoary as in:  hoary ashes

•
The hoary tree has lichen covering its bark.
hoary = grayish white in color
Show 3 more with this contextual meaning
  • •
    Hoary cobwebs covered the entrance of the cave.
  • •
    The ground was thinly covered in snow and the wind blew hoary gray flakes across the glass.  (source)
  • •
    And the wide difference that still lay between him and the great house seemed suddenly impassable as the moat full of water in front of him, and as high as the wall beyond, stretching up straight and hoary before him.  (source)
▲ show less (of above)
Show 4 more
  • •
    For the great plateful of blue water was before her; the hoary Lighthouse, distant, austere, in the midst; and on the right, as far as the eye could see, fading and falling, in soft low pleats, the green sand dunes with the wild flowing grasses on them, which always seemed to be running away into some moon country, uninhabited of men.  (source)
    hoary = grayish white in color
  • •
    It was a very grey day; a most opaque sky, "onding on snaw," canopied all; thence flakes felt at intervals, which settled on the hard path and on the hoary lea without melting.  (source)
  • •
    I had not seen a coal fire, since I had left England three years ago: though many a wood fire had I watched, as it crumbled into hoary ashes, and mingled with the feathery heap upon the hearth, which not inaptly figured to me, in my despondency, my own dead hopes.  (source)
  • •
    "You live just below — do you mean at that house with the battlements?" pointing to Thornfield Hall, on which the moon cast a hoary gleam, bringing it out distinct and pale from the woods that, by contrast with the western sky, now seemed one mass of shadow.  (source)
▲ show less (of above)