subs. (colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.
1593. SHAKESPEARE, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 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.]
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. GREY BEARD. … 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 GREYBEARD.
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.
