Word.ws English Dictionary

greybeard

greybeard noun: an old man.

Noun

greybeard (plural greybeards)

  1. (poetic) An old man.
  2. (figuratively) Any of the members of a group who have been there the longest, often implying experience.
  3. (historical) A coarse earthenware vessel for holding liquor; a bellarmine.
    Synonyms:
    longbeard
  4. A powerful wave in the vicinity of Cape Horn.

Synonyms of greybeard

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of greybeard

pluralgreybeards
alternative formgraybeard

Origin of greybeard

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

Questions about greybeard

What does greybeard mean?
Greybeard means an old man.
What part of speech is greybeard?
Greybeard is a noun.
What is the plural of greybeard?
The plural of greybeard is greybeards.

Words near greybeard in the dictionary

  1. grey-throated rails
  2. grey-winged trumpeter
  3. grey-winged trumpeters
  4. greyback
  5. greybacks
  6. greybeard
  7. greybeards
  8. greyboard
  9. greybodies
  10. greybody
  11. greycing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: greybeard (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “greybeard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/greybeard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.