greybeard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a man who is very old
noun a stoneware drinking jug with a long neck; decorated with a caricature of Cardinal Bellarmine (17th century)

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

Among sea-commanders, the old greybeards will oftenest leave their berths to visit the night-cloaked deck. — Moby Dick; Or, The Whale, Herman Melville
"Because I might forget that you are my father--as you forget it when you sold me to that greybeard?" — On the Cross: A Romance of the Passion Play at Oberammergau, Wilhelmine von Hillern
He was a greybeard of seventy years of age, in a gardener's apron, with watery eyes and a bent back. — Royal Highness, Thomas Mann

old man, graybeard, Methuselah

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