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dappled

 - 5 dictionary results

dap⋅pled

[dap-uhld]
–adjective
having spots of a different shade, tone, or color from the background; mottled.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME, prob. < Scand; akin to ON depill spot

dap⋅ple

[dap-uhl] noun, adjective, verb, -pled, -pling.
–noun
1. a spot or mottled marking, usually occurring in clusters.
2. an animal with a mottled skin or coat.
–adjective
3. dappled; spotted: a dapple horse.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
4. to mark or become marked with spots.

Origin:
1545–55; prob. back formation from dappled
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dappled
dap·ple   (dāp'əl)   
n.  
    1. Mottled or spotted marking, as on a horse's coat.

    2. An individual spot.

  1. An animal with a mottled or spotted skin or coat.

tr.v.   dap·pled, dap·pling, dap·ples
To mark or mottle with spots.

[Back-formation from dappled.]
dap'ple adj.
dap·pled   (dāp'əld)   
adj.  Spotted; mottled.

[Middle English, probably from Old Norse depill, spot, splash, diminutive of dapi, pool.]
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

dapple 
c.1400 (dappled), perhaps a back-formation from dapple-grey "apple-grey" (c.1386), by resemblance to the markings on an apple (cf. O.N. apalgrar "dapple-gray"), or, as it was used of gray horses with round blotches, perhaps of apples themselves.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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