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collie

 - 3 dictionary results

col⋅lie

[kol-ee]
–noun
one of a breed of dogs having a usually long, black, tan, and white or sable and white coat, raised originally in Scotland for herding sheep.

Origin:
1645–55; perh. Scots colle coal (in reference to the original coloration of the breed) + -ie; cf. ME Colle dog's name


col⋅lie⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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col·lie   (kŏl'ē)   
n.  A medium-to-large dog of a breed originating in Scotland as a sheepdog, having a long narrow muzzle and either a long thick straight coat or a short hard flat coat, depending on the variety.

[Scots, perhaps variant of colly, like coal, from Middle English col, coal; see coal.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

collie 
1651, possibly from dial. coaly "coal-black," the color of some breeds (cf. colley "sheep with black face and legs," attested from 1793; M.E. colfox "coal-fox," a variety of fox with tail and both ears tipped with black; and colley Somerset dialectal name for "blackbird"). Or from Scand. proper name Colle, known to have been applied to dogs ("Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Gerlond" [Chaucer]); or from a convergence of the two.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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