mottledadj.
/ˈmɒtld/, U.S. /ˈmɑd(ə)ld/ 1.
a. Dappled with spots, patches, or blotches; marked with or characterized by spots, streaks, or patches of different colours; motley.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > variegation > patch of colour > [adjective] > mottled
marled1502
gangean1623
mottle1676
mottled1676
scovy1777
mottledy1929
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing agents > [adjective] > soap > type of soap
mottled1676
superfatted1887
1676 London Gaz. No. 1143/4 A little motled Bitch, with yellow motles from head to toe.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Pigeon Of Runts are different Sorts, one called Spanish Runts, generally of a Blood Red, or Mottled Colour.
1794 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 85 71 The mottled appearance of the sun is owing to an inequality in the level of the surface.
1808 Times 29 Feb. 1/2 Followed a Person, a Mottled Pointer Dog.
1868 Princess Alice Mem. 29 Dec. (1884) 207 My babies..look so mottled and healthy.
1914 Sunset May 995/1 A Palomino stallion..led the dozen brown and mottled mares of his seraglio up a silent hillside.
1924 G. Martin Mod. Soap & Detergent Industry I. 29 Modern Mottled Soap..is made from ordinary settled soap of good quality by..adding insoluble colouring matter.
1980 C. Mungoshi Some Kinds of Wounds 17 Hama leaned against the white and grey mottled bole of the tree.
2000 Church Times 1 Dec. 28/3 The boyish Moses..holds the tablets of stone, of mottled marble.
b. figurative.
ΚΠ
a1704 T. Brown in Familiar Lett. Love, Gallantry (1718) II. 331 That you might prostitute your Charms To this and that gay Blockhead's Arms, And with a Bastard mottl'd Race My Ancient Family debase?
1756 E. Perronet Mitre iii. ccxxvii. 186 A mottled blend Of Vice with Virtue's foes or friend.
1857 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. I. xiii. 744 The real lack of ideas which their barbarous and mottled dialect strives to hide.
1891 J. Strong New Era 201 A mottled population, containing the worst elements of society.
1935 Sun (Baltimore) 4 Apr. 1/5 Voting,..held this week in Michigan, Illinois and Maryland, has left a somewhat mottled political picture as a ‘preview’ of the important presidential contest which will take place next year.
1996 I. Bamforth Open Workings 34 I started to tell her about Orwell's stay in the same contagious hospital But the story came out mottled and lichenified.
2. Geology and Soil Science. Designating sediments, rocks, and soils containing areas of contrasting colour or texture, as a result of variations in composition, moisture, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [adjective] > other types of soil
redeOE
Armeniac?a1425
rosiny1613
Chiltern1669
light land1770
acid1806
residuary1829
mottled1845
sedentary1870
residual1876
azonal1896
Bulli1904
immature1921
mature1924
intrazonal1927
podzolic1927
pedalferic1928
pedocalic1928
solonetzic1935
planosolic1949
solodic1968
cryptogamic1973
cryptobiotic1992
1845 R. I. Murchison et al. Geol. Russia in Europe I. ii. 75 Red and green mottled shale.
1859 D. Page Handbk. Geol. Terms 375 Woolwich-beds, a name occasionally employed by English geologists to designate those beds of plastic and mottled clays, sands, and rolled flint-pebbles which lie between the ‘Thanet Sands’ and the ‘London Clay’.
1876 J. S. Ingram Centennial Exposition xi. 361 A very fine dove-colored or mottled marble was shown.
1910 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 259/1 The records of the terrestrial and lagoonal conditions..are to be found in the coarse conglomerates, red and mottled sandstones, marls and clays with their accompanying beds of dolomite and limestone.
1938 Ecol. Monogr. 8 81 Gray silt loam, definitely stratified, streaked and mottled with iron stains.
1961 M. M. Cole S. Afr. iv. 87 The weathering processes..result in the formation of soils comprising an A horizon of some 12 to 24 inches of friable sand..overlying a B horizon of mottled clayey-sand containing many ferruginous concretions.
2000 Jrnl. Sedimentary Res. 70 619/1 The mottled mudstones represent surface-water gley soils formed in seasonally waterlogged areas.
Compounds
C1. Modifying colour words to form adjectives and nouns, as mottled brown, mottled green, etc.
ΚΠ
1835 R. Mant Brit. Months I. iv. 127 The trembling Aspen's bough Shows its long drops of scaly down, White, but with rings of mottled brown.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species iv. 84 When we see leaf-eating insects green, and bark-feeders mottled-grey..we must believe that these tints are of service to these..insects in preserving them from danger.
1874 A. B. Garrod & E. B. Baxter Essentials Materia Medica (ed. 4) 330 The leaves are..pale green when fresh, mottled-brown when dry.
1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out xiii. 205 The mottled blue Balzac lay naked in the sun.
1958 J. E. Morton Molluscs iii. 60 The normal ‘zebra’ pattern of dark transverse stripes displayed when swimming can be changed to a pale mottled brown and grey when lurking over a sandy bottom.
1992 Chicago Jan. 76/1 The mottled-gray limestone exterior of the Second Presbyterian Church..is woefully earthbound.
C2. Parasynthetic.
mottled-faced adj.
ΚΠ
1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xlii. 464 The mottled-faced gentleman spoke with great energy.
1890 Catholic World July 442 The mottled-faced man had placed tin cups and a bottle on the counter.
1904 N.E.D. at Owl sb. Long-tufted, mottled-tufted owl.
C3. † mottled baboon n. Obsolete rare the yellow baboon, Papio cynocephalus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > group Catarrhinae (Old World monkey) > family Cercopithecidae > genus Papio (baboon) > Papio cynocephalus (dog-faced baboon)
dogshead1591
cynocephalus1601
dog-head1607
dog-apea1616
cynocephalist1656
dog-faced baboon1790
mottled baboon1800
1800 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. I. i. 16 Mottled Baboon.
mottled beauty n. a Eurasian geometrid moth, Alcis repandata, which exhibits industrial melanism.
ΚΠ
1775 M. Harris Eng. Lepidoptera 11 Phalæna..Beauty, mottled..light brown, beautifully mottled with dark brown.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 110 The Mottled Beauty..appears the middle or end of July, in woods and forests.
1908 R. South Mothes Brit. Isles II. 307 Mottled Beauty (Boarmia repandata)... Dark-brown forms, inclining to blackish, are not uncommon in the London district, but in South Yorkshire coal-black specimens..occur.
1967 E. B. Ford Moths (ed. 2) v. 67 The polymorphism of the Mottled Beauty..is..related to the geographical distribution of the species.
mottled calf n. a variegated leather used for bookbinding.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > manufacture or production of books > book-binding > bookbinding equipment > [noun] > materials > leather
roan1383
Turkey leather1655
sheep1705
Turkey1715
Russia1724
rough calf1730
law1738
mottled calf1857
pastegrain1880
Rutland1894
Cambridge calf1895
Niger morocco1898
Niger1946
1857 Debow's Rev. Nov. 23/5 525 They were bound in that famous old red morocco; and there was, besides, a second series arrayed in rich mottled calf.
1986 Christie's Sale Catal.: Bks. from Libr. of M. Boulton 12 Dec. 13 (list) Contemporary mottled calf, gilt spines (slightly rubbed).
mottled grampus n. now rare Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus.
ΚΠ
1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 14 On the California coast occurs the Whiteheaded or Mottled Grampus, Grampus Stearnsii Dall.
1985 L. Watson Whales of World (rev. ed.) 254/2 Local names [of Grey or Risso's Dolphin]. Grampus, grey grampus, mottled grampus.
mottled grey n. a greyish-beige geometrid moth, Colostygia multistrigaria, native to Europe and North Africa.
ΚΠ
1809 A. H. Haworth Lepidoptera Britannica ii. 306 G[eometra] multistrigaria (The mottled Grey).
1908 R. South Mothes Brit. Isles II. 186 Mottled Grey... The fore wings in the typical form of this species are grey, with a slight brownish tinge.
1989 Bull. Amateur Entomologists' Soc. 48 150 (title) The mottled grey, a first record for southern Ireland.
mottled iron n. a form of iron intermediate between white and grey iron, containing part of its carbon in the form of graphite.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > iron > [noun] > type of iron > cast iron > other types of cast iron
grey iron1665
white iron1665
run metal1741
white cast iron1792
mottled iron1836
tender-floss1839
pot metal1854
semi-steel1858
silicon iron1878
white-heart1911
white-heart1928
1836–41 W. T. Brande Man. Chem. (ed. 5) 763 Gray or mottled-iron is softer and less brittle.
1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron iv. 48 The characteristic dappled appearance peculiar to mottled iron.
1946 V. N. Wood Metall. Materials viii. 220 When the combined carbon content is considerably in excess of 0.89 per cent, we have the mottled irons which are partly white and partly grey in fracture.
mottled maple n. an ornamental wood obtained from any of several American maples.
ΚΠ
1843 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. I. 93 The American [maple], especially that from Prince Edward's Island, is very beautiful, and distinguished as bird's-eye maple and mottled maple. The latter is principally used for picture-frames; the former is full of small knots that give rise to its name.
1875 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 216 The Russian maple is thought to be the wood of a birch tree... The bird's eye maple is the American variety... The mottled maple is a commoner variety.
1996 Re: Soft Maple vs. Hard Maple in rec.woodworking (Usenet newsgroup) 11 Aug. The bulk of the ‘quilted’ or ‘mottled’ maple that wanders thru my shop is the soft variety.
mottled owl n. (a) the North American screech owl, Otus asio, esp. in its grey morph (now disused); (b) a common owl of Central and South America, Ciccaba virgata.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > family Strigidae > genus Strix > strix ocellata
mottled owl1781
red owl1785
red-horned owl1809
1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 126 Mottled Owl.
1867 Amer. Naturalist 1 41 The resident kinds of most frequent occurrence are the Mottled Owl, (Scops asio Bon.) perhaps better known as the ‘Screech Owl’, [etc.].
1974 Ecology 55 496 Potential predators of H. desmarestianus at La Selva included..the Semiplumbeous Hawk (Leucopternis semiplumbea) and Mottled Owl (Ciccaba virgata).
1991 Jrnl. Field Ornithol. 62 239 Results indicate that the Mottled Owl is common in Tikal [sc. Guatemala] and suggest that this little-known species is apparently territorial.
mottled pig n. (also mottled pig-iron) = mottled iron n.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Watts tr. L. Gmelin Hand-bk. Chem. V. 212 Mottled or mixed pig-iron.
1858 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 7 May 384/2 1/ 3 white iron and 2/ 3 mottled pig.
a1898 H. Bessemer Autobiogr. (1905) xviii. 275 The analysis of mottled pig (la fonte truité), consisting of two-thirds gray and one-third white.
mottled umber n. more fully mottled umber moth: a geometrid moth, Erannis defoliaria, of which the female is wingless.
ΚΠ
1749 B. Wilkes Eng. Moths & Butterflies 36 The mottled Umber-moth.
1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injurious Insects (1890) 337 The caterpillar of the Mottled Umber Moth is a ‘looper’.
1921 Conquest Sept. 495/3 The Mottled Umber..a species of the same genus, has a completely wingless female.
1966 Punch 30 Mar. 463/1 Some ancient apple trees,..generous hosts, in season, to the Capsid Bug and the Blossom-weevil, the Mottled Umber Moth, the Pale Brindled Beauty.
1974 W. Condry Woodlands iii. 41 Among the hazel eaters are two of the great oak-defoliators: winter moth and mottled umber.
1993 Forestry 66 203 (table) Scientific and common names of Lepidoptera mentioned in text..Erannis defoliaria (Clerk) Mottled umber.
Derivatives
ˈmottledness n. mottled condition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > variegation > patch of colour > [noun] > mottle > mottled condition
mottledness1830
mottlement1853
1830 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 28 386 The red and brown mottledness o' its striped and starry beauty.
1993 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 6 Dec. d8 I noticed one day that my smoothness had turned to a sort of hairy mottledness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.1676