Definition of HOAR

hoar

Plural: hoars

Noun

  • A white or grayish coating of frost or age.
  • ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside)
  • A white or greyish-white colour.
  • Hoariness; antiquity.

Adjective Satellite

  • showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair; -Coleridge
    • "whose beard with age is hoar"
    • "nodded his hoary head"

Adj

  • Of a white or greyish-white colour.
  • Hoarily bearded.
  • Musty; mouldy; stale.
  • Figuratively, grey-haired with age.

Verb

  • To become mouldy or musty.

Examples

  • The old wooden Scrabble tiles were covered with a faint hoar of dust.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English hor, hore, from Old English hār (“hoar, hoary, grey, old”), from Proto-West Germanic *hair, from Proto-Germanic *hairaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“grey, dark”). Cognate with German hehr (“noble, sublime”), Herr (“sir, gentleman”), Scottish Gaelic ciar (“dusky”), and Russian се́рый (séryj, “grey”).

Synonyms

frost, gray, gray-haired, gray-headed, grey, grey-haired, grey-headed, grizzly, hoarfrost, hoary, rime, white-haired, agedness, ancientness, oldhood, oldness

Scrabble Score: 7

hoar: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
hoar: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hoar: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

hoar: valid Words With Friends Word