In literature, steel gray is often employed to evoke a somber, unyielding atmosphere as well as to highlight distinctive physical traits. Authors describe skies, mists, and even porcelain in a steel gray hue to set a mood of impending melancholy or industrial austerity ([1], [2], [3], [4]), while characters with steel gray eyes, hair, or clothing are imbued with a sense of determination, mystery, or cold resolve ([5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13]). In addition, this color is applied to various materials—ranging from metals and porcelain to uniforms and even living creatures—to suggest strength, durability, and an almost palpable intensity ([14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19]). Through such versatile usage, steel gray becomes a powerful literary tool that deepens both setting and character.
- The atmosphere became thick and steel gray.
— from My Attainment of the Pole
Being the Record of the Expedition That First Reached the Boreal Center, 1907-1909. With the Final Summary of the Polar Controversy by Frederick Albert Cook
- V The sky had turned to a steel gray, against which the villa stood out sallow and inscrutable.
— from Crucial Instances by Edith Wharton
- From the bulb emanated a steel gray exhalation of what must be termed light, and yet so real it was seemingly material.
— from Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930 by Various
- Wade watched the scene until the fire faded, the golden shafts paled and died, the rosy glow on sage changed to cold steel gray.
— from The Mysterious Rider by Zane Grey
- His chin and nose, his cheeks and brow were very clear-cut, while his eyes were large and of a dark steel gray color.
— from The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Masterpieces of German Literature Vol. 19
- [Pg 12] could stand it, his steel gray eyes taking on a fire that I well understood.
— from Fighting Byng: A Novel of Mystery, Intrigue and Adventure by A. Stone
- The determination was expressed in every feature, in the steel gray eyes, in the firm set mouth, in the square and powerful build of the man.
— from The Light That Lures by Percy James Brebner
- The steel gray eyes were almost black, and the look—had it possessed physical force, I felt it would have crushed me.
— from A Cry in the Wilderness by Mary E. (Mary Ella) Waller
- He paused a moment, while his steel gray eyes studied the younger man.
— from Generals Help Themselves by M. C. Pease
- At last a pair of cold steel gray eyes were turned up to him which confused him so that he stammered in English: "Is this General Lynch?"
— from The Story of Paul Boyton: Voyages on All the Great Rivers of the World by Paul Boyton
- A guarded expression came into Bailey Brooks’ steel gray eyes.
— from Flash Evans, Camera News Hawk by Frank Bell
- It was a mixed steel gray suit.
— from Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States
From Interviews with Former Slaves
Arkansas Narratives, Part 1 by United States. Work Projects Administration
- A man of medium height, massive bull neck, high forehead, straight intellectual eyebrows and piercing steel gray eyes.
— from The Fall of a Nation
A Sequel to the Birth of a Nation by Dixon, Thomas, Jr.
- It varies in color from a deep red to a steel gray, but all varieties leave a red streak on unglazed porcelain.
— from Forge Work by William L. (William Lewis) Ilgen
- The iron is deposited in the form of a bright, steel gray, firmly-adhering mass on the platinum dish.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 299, September 24, 1881 by Various
- —A steel gray metallic element.
— from Inventing for Boys by A. Frederick (Archie Frederick) Collins
- Pure tungsten is bright steel gray, very hard, and very heavy.
— from The Boy's Book of New Inventions by Harry E. (Harry Edward) Maule
- The pulverous bismuth precipitated on the surface is rubbed off, whereupon the objects appear dark steel gray.
— from Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes
- The shingles are treated with “Cabot’s creosote stains” of the following colors: On roofs, a steel gray, and on sides, sienna.
— from Scientific American Architects and Builders Edition, No. 26, Dec., 1887 by Various