a. [Cf. ON. hvíthárr, -hærðr.] Having white or hoary hair, esp. from age. Also, covered with white hairs or down, as a plant.

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c. 1400.  [see HAIRED].

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c. 1440.  Alphabet of Tales, 519. Now I am olde & white-harid.

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1530.  Palsgr., 329/1. Whyte heared, chennu.

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1726.  Papers rel. Scots in Poland (S.H.S., 1915), 210. To two white-haired people … f. 24.

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1796.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 825. Bryum canescens … leaves … white haired at the ends.

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1848.  Dickens, Dombey, lxii. The white-haired gentleman’s affection for the girl.

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1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, vii. A sweet gravity about her … as charming in her white-haired age as in her fair youth!

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