mottle

views updated May 23 2018

mot·tle / ˈmätl/ • v. [tr.] (usu. be mottled) mark with spots or smears of color: the cow's coat was light red mottled with white | [as adj.] (mottled) a bird with mottled brown plumage. • n. an irregular arrangement of spots or patches of color: the ship was a mottle of khaki and black. ∎ (also mottling) a spot or patch forming part of such an arrangement: the mottles on a trout white marble with mottlings of black and gray.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

mottle

views updated Jun 27 2018

mottle surface variegated with spots; so vb. and ppl. adj. mottled. XVII. prob. back-formation from MOTLEY.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

mottle

views updated May 11 2018

mottle A general term for a virus disease of plants in which the symptoms include the appearance of rounded or diffuse areas of yellow colour on the leaves.

A Dictionary of Ecology MICHAEL ALLABY

mottle

views updated Jun 11 2018

mottle A general term for a virus disease of plants in which the symptoms include the appearance of rounded or diffuse areas of yellow colour on the leaves.

A Dictionary of Plant Sciences MICHAEL ALLABY