gray man

Etymology
.

Noun

 * 1) An average, forgettable man who does not draw attention or stand out in a crowd.
 * 2) * 1996, "Colby's Body Found Along River Shore", Washington Post, Todd Shields, ISSN 0190-8286
 * He was said to be a perfect match for his own description of the ideal intelligence officer, "the traditional gray man, so inconspicuous that he can never catch a waiter's eye in a restaurant."
 * 1) * 2000, "Cassidy's Run: The Secret Spy War Over Nerve Gas", David Wise, pg.13-3, ISBN 9780375505362
 * But perhaps that is why he was chosen for his role — a gray man who blended almost invisibly into the background.
 * 1) * 2012, "Spycraft for Nerds: Brainy Tips for Winning at Life", Wired Magazine, Mary H.K. Choi, ISSN 1059-1028
 * “Your goal is to be the gray man,” says Clinton Emerson, a former Navy SEAL and trainer for the CIA and NSA who now works at the special-ops site SOFREP.
 * 1) * 2015, "Becoming The ‘Gray Man’: 10 Ways to Blend In and Survive", Ballistic Magazine, Len Waldron, ISSN 2573-0290, archived at Wayback Machine on 10 May 2019
 * The Gray Man is in between. He is neither blinged-out nor loud, but also not a head-down, foot-shuffling sheep.
 * 1) * 2017, "How Special Ops Instructors View Candidates", Military, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Stew Smith, archived at Wayback Machine on 12 October 2017
 * The Gray Man does not stand out negatively amongst the instructors, but receives good peer evaluations from his classmates.
 * 1) * 2017, "How Special Ops Instructors View Candidates", Military, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Stew Smith, archived at Wayback Machine on 12 October 2017
 * The Gray Man does not stand out negatively amongst the instructors, but receives good peer evaluations from his classmates.