Nearby words
Origin of hoar
before 900; Middle English hor, Old English hār; cognate with Old Norse hārr gray with age, Old Frisian hēr gray, Old High German hēr old (German hehr august, sublime)
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Examples from the Web for hoar
British Dictionary definitions for hoar
hoar
/ (hɔː) /
noun
short for hoarfrost
adjective
rare covered with hoarfrost
archaic a poetic variant of hoary
Word Origin for hoar
Old English hār; related to Old Norse hārr, Old High German hēr, Old Slavonic sěrǔ grey
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for hoar
hoar
Old English har "hoary, gray, venerable, old," the connecting notion being gray hair, from Proto-Germanic *haira (cf. Old Norse harr "gray-haired, old," Old Saxon, Old High German her "distinguished, noble, glorious," German hehr), from PIE *kei-, source of color adjectives (see hue (n.1)). German also uses the word as a title of respect, in Herr. Of frost, it is recorded in Old English, perhaps expressing the resemblance of the white feathers of frost to an old man's beard. Used as an attribute of boundary stones in Anglo-Saxon, perhaps in reference to being gray with lichens, hence its appearance in place-names.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper