grizzle1
/ˈɡrɪz(ə)l
/adjective [often in combination]
(Of hair or fur) having dark and white hairs mixed: grizzle-haired...
- Although most Borders have dark ears and muzzles, their coats may be grizzle and tan, blue and tan, red or wheaten.
noun [mass noun]
A mixture of dark and white hairs.Today the bags under his eyes are big and dark enough to trap a badger and a grey grizzle of beard coats his jowls....
- It was the Major who broke the ice, a short and stocky man with a grizzle of dark stubble on his face.
- His pale skin and delicate features are complemented by a grizzle of stubble in keeping with his bohemian, New Agey image.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French grisel, from gris 'grey'.
Rhymes
grizzle2
/ˈɡrɪz(ə)l/verb [no object] British informal
1(Of a child) cry fretfully: sometimes children grizzled, sometimes they wailed (as noun grizzling) no grizzling, now!...
- It's raining hard; Moses is grizzling in the back.
- It was that half grizzling / half cooing that he does when he doesn't know whether he wants to cry or not.
- The young woman glanced at the boy by her side, who was obviously tired and grizzling softly.
Synonyms
cry, cry fretfully, weep, whimper, whine, whinge, mewl, moan, bleat, snivel, sob, wail, howl, bawl;
Scottish greet
informal boohoo, blubber, blub, turn on the waterworks
1.1Sulk or grumble.Banks was grizzling about how left-wing our media are....
- Then again, there's not much point in grizzling about it.
- An English-born colleague grizzled that it seemed very focused on London.
Derivatives
grizzler
- He knows how to handle trouble-makers and grizzlers and convert them into happy, productive employees.
- But every party contains three groups: the hopeful, the smug and the grizzlers.
- Yet if complaint is made about such practical problems, women advocates may be denounced as grizzlers who would not, or could not, face up to the practical necessities of life in a gruelling profession.
Origin
Mid 18th century (in the sense 'show the teeth, grin'): of unknown origin.