spottyadj.n.

Brit.

/ˈspɒti/, U.S.

/ˈspɑdi/

Forms: Middle English spote (perhaps transmission error), Middle English spotti, Middle English– spotty, 1500s spottye, 1500s–1600s (1800s Scottish) spottie; also Scottish 1800s spathie, 1800s spattey, 1900s– spattie.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: spot n.¹, -y suffix¹.

Etymology: < spot n.¹ + -y suffix¹. Compare earlier spotted adj.With sense A. 2 compare earlier spottiness n. 2a. In sense B. 1 apparently with reference to the flickering appearance of the light, and perhaps also (in like spotty wantin' the tail) punning on Spotty as a common name for a dog.

A. adj.

a. Full of spots or marked with spots; spotted.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [adjective] > spotted

spotteda1325

spotty1340

splotty1382

scawed1398

engoutedc1450

dropped1611

measled1634

fly-bitten1639

maculated1646

bedrop1658

polluted1667

diced1671

puncticular1671

pantherine1753

parded1806

guttular1811

naevose1847

pellucido-punctate1847

measly1849

notate1857

maculiferous1863

spot-skin1871

naevous1890

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > [adjective] > spotted

spotty1340

specky1382

splecked1382

splecky1398

spotteda1425

sproteda1500

motey1786

bespotted-

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 192 Þou ne sselt naȝt maky none sacrefice to god of oxe ne of ssep þet by spotty.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxx. 39 Þe schepe schulden..bern spotty & speckyd.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) viii. ll. 73, 74 Yf hit [sc. the ram's tongue] be spotty, that a man may wite Yf he bigete hym spotty lombis yonge.

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. xxvi. f. lxxi^v A clere Myrroure wyll more playnly represente the fourmes..of thynges..than wylle another that is fowle and spotty.

1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell iii. 206 The spotty rams wil commonly be seene in the lambs.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 291 To descry new Lands, Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.

1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 95 All the impressions are similar to that of the frontispiece, being spotty or greyish.

1822 J. M. Good Study Med. IV. 551 The spotty and minutely tubercular lichens.

1874 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera IV. xlvi. 229 A dozen of the fattest, shiniest, spottiest trout I ever saw.

1922 Harper's Bazar Dec. 71 A costume of dyed gazelle—the short spotty fur dyed a warm brown and the spotted effect only faintly visible.

1981 C. Beresford-Howe Marriage Bed (1982) ii. 84 At the spotty mirror over his chest of drawers, I rebraided my tangled hair.

2013 Independent 8 Jan. 22 Clad in a grey pinstriped suit with a spotty blue tie.

†b. figurative and in figurative contexts. Morally stained or sullied, defiled. Obsolete (rare in later use).

ΚΠ

?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 206 By myspekynge bryngen forþ spotty leues of wrecchid synne.

a1450 in R. Morris Legends Holy Rood (1871) 213 A white lambe, with senn blak Spotty myȝt he neuere bene.

1537 tr. Erasmus Expos. xv. Psalme sig. F.ii Our selues we be all spottye but in Chryste we be immaculate and without spotte.

1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. viii. f. 50^v The Chirch..,wherof all the members are spotty and very vncleane.

1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 112 You would prove of Christians, spotty feasters.

1637 J. Prideaux Certaine Serm. 43 They [sc. sins] make vs not spotty, or odious, in the sight of God.

1895 Scribner's Mag. May 646/1 Spotty business [sc. gambling], Gower Woodseer. ‘Lead us not into temptation’ is worldly wisdom in addition to heavenly.

2. Having, or characterized by, blemishes, pustules, or pimples on the skin; (in later use) esp. having pimples or acne (frequently with connotations of youth or callowness). Cf. pimply adj., acned adj.Now relatively uncommon in North American use.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > [adjective] > pimple

ploukyc1440

blobbed1486

pimpled1506

ploukedc1540

precious1581

whealy1611

spotty1620

pimpling1628

plouky-faced?1645

ampery1736

pimply1747

poxya1758

papulous1800

papular1813

papulated1822

whelky1822

pimplous1906

zitty1971

1620 T. Venner Via Recta ii. 40 The colour of the face becommeth pale.., and the skin..polluted with a white spotty deformity.

1726 T. Fuller Let. 13 Feb. in J. Jurin Corr. (1996) 324 I am now looking over some papers that I wrote more than 30 years agoe concerning Spotty & Pustuliary Fevers.

1733 J. Allen Summary View Whole Pract. Physick I. i. 55 Spots like Flea-bites appear, and increasing in Number and Magnitude, in some places run together, and render the Face variously spotty.

1837 Mirror of Lit. 9 Dec. 380/1 Last week I was up in the nursery for being feverish and spotty... I was in great hopes it was scarlet fever or something catching.

1851 E. C. M. Ponsonby Clare Abbey I. vii. 121 There was a waiter with a spotty face.

1893 London Society May 480 He was a tall, fair young man, with a gap in his teeth and a spotty skin and a ragged beard.

1937 A. Christie Dumb Witness x. 105 Matilda, she was the eldest. A spotty girl. Used to teach in Sunday School.

1982 U. Bentley Nat. Order (1983) 11 Some of the parents..said the bloke was an alcoholic and should never have been left in charge of their spotty offspring in the first place.

2008 Independent 3 Mar. (Extra section) 4/5 With a souped-up engine and go-faster stripes, it became the car of choice for spotty youths.

3. Occurring in spots or patches; characterized by such occurrence.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [adjective] > scattered at wide intervals > in spots or patches

spotty1796

fleckered1823

1796 ‘A. Pasquin’ Crit. Guide Exhib. Royal Acad. 27 We have no doubt of the faithfulness with which the objects are represented, but they are so scattered over the surface of every drawing, as to make them appear spotty, and out of harmony.

1821 Examiner 6 May 284/2 Their spotty and crowded arrangement.

1892 R. L. Stevenson Across Plains ii. 79 A rough, spotty undergrowth partially conceals the sand.

1936 U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 873. 49 The occurrence of oil was ‘spotty’, highly productive spots being separated by relatively unproductive or dry areas.

1992 R. Gunesekera Monkfish Moon (1998) 51 Some of it came easily, already lifted by a black spotty mould, but in other places the paper was thick with generations of starched patterns.

a. Of painting, drawing, etc.: lacking visual coherence or harmony.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > qualities or styles of painting > [adjective] > other qualities or styles

plangent1666

dry1695

sticky1753

flat1755

spotty1798

touchy1809

definitive1815

edgy1825

painty1827

scratchy1827

unideal1838

tinglish1855

generalist1858

tinny1877

Christmas-cardy1883

tinty1883

surfacy1887

chocolate box1892

chocolate-boxy1894

Christmas card1895

juicy1897

candy box1898

pastose1901

busy1909

pompier1914

posterish1914

painterly1932

X-ray1940

illusional1942

all-over1948

figurative1960

hard-edge1961

1798 J. Ireland Suppl. to Hogarth Illustr. iv. 108 This almost obliterated, unharmonious, spotty, patchwork piece of antiquity.

1812 Examiner 25 May 329/1 His effects border on crudeness, arising principally from their want of concentration in the lights, which are sometimes spotty.

1884 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 22 Dec. 664/1 Walters is showing a disposition for more lively colouring, but..this year's paintings..are hard and spotty.

1950 V. Barker Amer. Painting 30 Even the casual eye can see that the painting is spotty.

2007 T. Sale & C. Betti Drawing 278 Too wide a range can result in a confusing complexity or a fractured, spotty drawing.

b. Of language, literature, or literary style: lacking coherence or unity; patchy or inconsistent with regard to quality. Also: characterized by or exhibiting such patchiness or lack of coherence.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > disconnected

unjointed1588

disjointed1593

checkie-wise1603

rambling1632

loose1638

unconnexed1716

disconnected1777

snipped1806

dot and go one1818

spasmodic1832

spotty1843

snippety1864

rantipole1866

splathering1929

1843 Graham's Mag. Mar. 196/2 In no other supposition can we reconcile the spotty appearance of the whole with a belief in the sanity of the author.

1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 261 The true artist in language is never spotty, and needs no guide-boards of admiring italics.

1922 Dial Jan. 104 This very ‘spotty’ novel is an effort to reflect the approach to life of youth, middle age, and old age.

1981 N. Amer. Rev. Dec. 64/2 Prose tricked out as poetry—and spotty prose at that.

2010 N.Y. Times 9 July c3 If you like a cozy, lived-in mystery with some quirky characters in a pleasant setting—and you don't mind spotty writing and perfunctory camerawork—you may enjoy it.

c. gen. (originally and chiefly U.S.) Uneven; patchy; sporadic or intermittent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective] > exhibiting variety in appearance > irregular in appearance

patched1447

shredden1581

patchy1583

of shreds (and patches)1604

patchwork1634

patched work1716

desultory1842

unpatterned1842

patchworky1845

patchworked1873

splashy1880

spotty1881

1881 Salt Lake Daily Tribune 6 Mar. 1/3 Garfield's Cabinet is..mediocre, spotty and full of holes.

1897 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 22 July 4/1 The selling [of wool] of late has been of a spotty character, many houses reporting practically no sales.

1915 N.Y. Tribune 8 May 9/4 The goods market is spotty.

1937 R. S. Morton Woman Surgeon i. 21 My grown brothers played whist with my father before dinner... His luck was spotty.

1977 H. Fast Immigrants i. 57 Clair's schooling was spotty, but she learned to read.

2000 E. Hunt et al. South Pacific 852/2 Jammed together in tenement conditions with little water..and spotty electricity.

B. n.

†1. Scottish. (A name for) a will-o'-the-wisp. Chiefly in like spotty (wantin' the tail): with great speed; instantaneously. Obsolete.See note in etymology.

ΚΠ

1833 J. S. Sands Poems 95 To see him i' the loupin' ague, Loupin' like Spottie ow're fouks' houses.

1866 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 178 Spottie, to run like, wintin' the tail, to run with great speed.

a1901 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden (1922) 83 Aff they gaed like spotty wantin' the tail.

2. A small wrasse (fish) endemic to coastal waters of New Zealand, Notolabrus celidotus, having dark spots on the sides.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Labrioidei (wrasse) > [noun] > family Labridae > member of genus Labrichthys (spotty)

parrotfish1656

spotty1872

wrasse1872

1872 J. Hector Fishes N. Zealand 108 A small Wrasse,..called the Spotty or Poddly.

1879 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 1878 11 384 Wrasse, Parrot-fish, and Spotties were often in the market.

1956 D. H. Graham Treasury N.Z. Fishes (ed. 2) 275 The name Spotty is derived from the presence of spots on each side of the fish... In Canterbury they are called Guffy.

2004 L. Jones Paint Your Wife 196 She had caught spotties and some herring before but nothing that she would eat.

Compounds

C1. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as spotty-coloured, spotty-leaved, etc.

ΚΠ

1581 J. Studley tr. Seneca Hippolytus i. ii, in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca 10 Trag. f. 61^v The spotty Hyded Tygar.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 340 He strangled His spightfull stepdams Dragons spotty-spangled.

1642 A. Grosse Myst. Self-denyall iii, in Sweet & Soule-perswading Inducements 126 He sees that he is like Jacobs flocke, spotty coloured.

1870 Building News 22 July 59/1 Care should be taken to avoid those spotty-patterned papers..as no class of papers can be more annoying or in worse taste than spotty patterns.

1878 Spectator 26 Jan. 122/1 Attributing the bad condition of spotty-leaved geraniums..to some mysterious and altogether irremediable cause.

1923 Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.) 23 Oct. 4 The spotty-breasted song sparrows are also gathering in flocks.

1983 G. Markstein Ferret 238 The spotty faced greasy haired young man behind the counter.

2005 P. Manseau Vows 304 Bald and spotty-headed, pudgy beneath his vestments.

C2.

† spotty-throat adj. U.S. Obsolete rare designating a group of sandpipers of the former genus Actodromas (now included in Calidris), characterized by spotted throats.

ΚΠ

1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 625 Actodromas... Pectoral Sandpipers. Spotty-throat Sandpipers.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	spotty
释义	spottyadj.n. Brit. /ˈspɒti/, U.S. /ˈspɑdi/ Forms: Middle English spote (perhaps transmission error), Middle English spotti, Middle English– spotty, 1500s spottye, 1500s–1600s (1800s Scottish) spottie; also Scottish 1800s spathie, 1800s spattey, 1900s– spattie. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: spot n.¹, -y suffix¹. Etymology: < spot n.¹ + -y suffix¹. Compare earlier spotted adj.With sense A. 2 compare earlier spottiness n. 2a. In sense B. 1 apparently with reference to the flickering appearance of the light, and perhaps also (in like spotty wantin' the tail) punning on Spotty as a common name for a dog. A. adj. 1. a. Full of spots or marked with spots; spotted. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > variegation > spot of colour > [adjective] > spotted spotteda1325 spotty1340 splotty1382 scawed1398 engoutedc1450 dropped1611 measled1634 fly-bitten1639 maculated1646 bedrop1658 polluted1667 diced1671 puncticular1671 pantherine1753 parded1806 guttular1811 naevose1847 pellucido-punctate1847 measly1849 notate1857 maculiferous1863 spot-skin1871 naevous1890 the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > [adjective] > spotted spotty1340 specky1382 splecked1382 splecky1398 spotteda1425 sproteda1500 motey1786 bespotted- 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 192 Þou ne sselt naȝt maky none sacrefice to god of oxe ne of ssep þet by spotty. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxx. 39 Þe schepe schulden..bern spotty & speckyd. tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) viii. ll. 73, 74 Yf hit [sc. the ram's tongue] be spotty, that a man may wite Yf he bigete hym spotty lombis yonge. 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. xxvi. f. lxxi^v A clere Myrroure wyll more playnly represente the fourmes..of thynges..than wylle another that is fowle and spotty. 1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell iii. 206 The spotty rams wil commonly be seene in the lambs. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 291 To descry new Lands, Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe. View more context for this quotation 1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 95 All the impressions are similar to that of the frontispiece, being spotty or greyish. 1822 J. M. Good Study Med. IV. 551 The spotty and minutely tubercular lichens. 1874 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera IV. xlvi. 229 A dozen of the fattest, shiniest, spottiest trout I ever saw. 1922 Harper's Bazar Dec. 71 A costume of dyed gazelle—the short spotty fur dyed a warm brown and the spotted effect only faintly visible. 1981 C. Beresford-Howe Marriage Bed (1982) ii. 84 At the spotty mirror over his chest of drawers, I rebraided my tangled hair. 2013 Independent 8 Jan. 22 Clad in a grey pinstriped suit with a spotty blue tie. †b. figurative and in figurative contexts. Morally stained or sullied, defiled. Obsolete (rare in later use). ΚΠ ?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 206 By myspekynge bryngen forþ spotty leues of wrecchid synne. a1450 in R. Morris Legends Holy Rood (1871) 213 A white lambe, with senn blak Spotty myȝt he neuere bene. 1537 tr. Erasmus Expos. xv. Psalme sig. F.ii Our selues we be all spottye but in Chryste we be immaculate and without spotte. 1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. viii. f. 50^v The Chirch..,wherof all the members are spotty and very vncleane. 1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 112 You would prove of Christians, spotty feasters. 1637 J. Prideaux Certaine Serm. 43 They [sc. sins] make vs not spotty, or odious, in the sight of God. 1895 Scribner's Mag. May 646/1 Spotty business [sc. gambling], Gower Woodseer. ‘Lead us not into temptation’ is worldly wisdom in addition to heavenly. 2. Having, or characterized by, blemishes, pustules, or pimples on the skin; (in later use) esp. having pimples or acne (frequently with connotations of youth or callowness). Cf. pimply adj., acned adj.Now relatively uncommon in North American use. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > eruption > [adjective] > pimple ploukyc1440 blobbed1486 pimpled1506 ploukedc1540 precious1581 whealy1611 spotty1620 pimpling1628 plouky-faced?1645 ampery1736 pimply1747 poxya1758 papulous1800 papular1813 papulated1822 whelky1822 pimplous1906 zitty1971 1620 T. Venner Via Recta ii. 40 The colour of the face becommeth pale.., and the skin..polluted with a white spotty deformity. 1726 T. Fuller Let. 13 Feb. in J. Jurin Corr. (1996) 324 I am now looking over some papers that I wrote more than 30 years agoe concerning Spotty & Pustuliary Fevers. 1733 J. Allen Summary View Whole Pract. Physick I. i. 55 Spots like Flea-bites appear, and increasing in Number and Magnitude, in some places run together, and render the Face variously spotty. 1837 Mirror of Lit. 9 Dec. 380/1 Last week I was up in the nursery for being feverish and spotty... I was in great hopes it was scarlet fever or something catching. 1851 E. C. M. Ponsonby Clare Abbey I. vii. 121 There was a waiter with a spotty face. 1893 London Society May 480 He was a tall, fair young man, with a gap in his teeth and a spotty skin and a ragged beard. 1937 A. Christie Dumb Witness x. 105 Matilda, she was the eldest. A spotty girl. Used to teach in Sunday School. 1982 U. Bentley Nat. Order (1983) 11 Some of the parents..said the bloke was an alcoholic and should never have been left in charge of their spotty offspring in the first place. 2008 Independent 3 Mar. (Extra section) 4/5 With a souped-up engine and go-faster stripes, it became the car of choice for spotty youths. 3. Occurring in spots or patches; characterized by such occurrence. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being scattered or dispersed > [adjective] > scattered at wide intervals > in spots or patches spotty1796 fleckered1823 1796 ‘A. Pasquin’ Crit. Guide Exhib. Royal Acad. 27 We have no doubt of the faithfulness with which the objects are represented, but they are so scattered over the surface of every drawing, as to make them appear spotty, and out of harmony. 1821 Examiner 6 May 284/2 Their spotty and crowded arrangement. 1892 R. L. Stevenson Across Plains ii. 79 A rough, spotty undergrowth partially conceals the sand. 1936 U.S. Geol. Surv. Bull. No. 873. 49 The occurrence of oil was ‘spotty’, highly productive spots being separated by relatively unproductive or dry areas. 1992 R. Gunesekera Monkfish Moon (1998) 51 Some of it came easily, already lifted by a black spotty mould, but in other places the paper was thick with generations of starched patterns. 4. a. Of painting, drawing, etc.: lacking visual coherence or harmony. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > qualities or styles of painting > [adjective] > other qualities or styles plangent1666 dry1695 sticky1753 flat1755 spotty1798 touchy1809 definitive1815 edgy1825 painty1827 scratchy1827 unideal1838 tinglish1855 generalist1858 tinny1877 Christmas-cardy1883 tinty1883 surfacy1887 chocolate box1892 chocolate-boxy1894 Christmas card1895 juicy1897 candy box1898 pastose1901 busy1909 pompier1914 posterish1914 painterly1932 X-ray1940 illusional1942 all-over1948 figurative1960 hard-edge1961 1798 J. Ireland Suppl. to Hogarth Illustr. iv. 108 This almost obliterated, unharmonious, spotty, patchwork piece of antiquity. 1812 Examiner 25 May 329/1 His effects border on crudeness, arising principally from their want of concentration in the lights, which are sometimes spotty. 1884 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 22 Dec. 664/1 Walters is showing a disposition for more lively colouring, but..this year's paintings..are hard and spotty. 1950 V. Barker Amer. Painting 30 Even the casual eye can see that the painting is spotty. 2007 T. Sale & C. Betti Drawing 278 Too wide a range can result in a confusing complexity or a fractured, spotty drawing. b. Of language, literature, or literary style: lacking coherence or unity; patchy or inconsistent with regard to quality. Also: characterized by or exhibiting such patchiness or lack of coherence. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > disconnected unjointed1588 disjointed1593 checkie-wise1603 rambling1632 loose1638 unconnexed1716 disconnected1777 snipped1806 dot and go one1818 spasmodic1832 spotty1843 snippety1864 rantipole1866 splathering1929 1843 Graham's Mag. Mar. 196/2 In no other supposition can we reconcile the spotty appearance of the whole with a belief in the sanity of the author. 1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 261 The true artist in language is never spotty, and needs no guide-boards of admiring italics. 1922 Dial Jan. 104 This very ‘spotty’ novel is an effort to reflect the approach to life of youth, middle age, and old age. 1981 N. Amer. Rev. Dec. 64/2 Prose tricked out as poetry—and spotty prose at that. 2010 N.Y. Times 9 July c3 If you like a cozy, lived-in mystery with some quirky characters in a pleasant setting—and you don't mind spotty writing and perfunctory camerawork—you may enjoy it. c. gen. (originally and chiefly U.S.) Uneven; patchy; sporadic or intermittent. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective] > exhibiting variety in appearance > irregular in appearance patched1447 shredden1581 patchy1583 of shreds (and patches)1604 patchwork1634 patched work1716 desultory1842 unpatterned1842 patchworky1845 patchworked1873 splashy1880 spotty1881 1881 Salt Lake Daily Tribune 6 Mar. 1/3 Garfield's Cabinet is..mediocre, spotty and full of holes. 1897 Fitchburg (Mass.) Daily Sentinel 22 July 4/1 The selling [of wool] of late has been of a spotty character, many houses reporting practically no sales. 1915 N.Y. Tribune 8 May 9/4 The goods market is spotty. 1937 R. S. Morton Woman Surgeon i. 21 My grown brothers played whist with my father before dinner... His luck was spotty. 1977 H. Fast Immigrants i. 57 Clair's schooling was spotty, but she learned to read. 2000 E. Hunt et al. South Pacific 852/2 Jammed together in tenement conditions with little water..and spotty electricity. B. n. †1. Scottish. (A name for) a will-o'-the-wisp. Chiefly in like spotty (wantin' the tail): with great speed; instantaneously. Obsolete.See note in etymology. ΚΠ 1833 J. S. Sands Poems 95 To see him i' the loupin' ague, Loupin' like Spottie ow're fouks' houses. 1866 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 178 Spottie, to run like, wintin' the tail, to run with great speed. a1901 J. B. Salmond Bawbee Bowden (1922) 83 Aff they gaed like spotty wantin' the tail. 2. A small wrasse (fish) endemic to coastal waters of New Zealand, Notolabrus celidotus, having dark spots on the sides. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Labrioidei (wrasse) > [noun] > family Labridae > member of genus Labrichthys (spotty) parrotfish1656 spotty1872 wrasse1872 1872 J. Hector Fishes N. Zealand 108 A small Wrasse,..called the Spotty or Poddly. 1879 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 1878 11 384 Wrasse, Parrot-fish, and Spotties were often in the market. 1956 D. H. Graham Treasury N.Z. Fishes (ed. 2) 275 The name Spotty is derived from the presence of spots on each side of the fish... In Canterbury they are called Guffy. 2004 L. Jones Paint Your Wife 196 She had caught spotties and some herring before but nothing that she would eat. Compounds C1. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as spotty-coloured, spotty-leaved, etc. ΚΠ 1581 J. Studley tr. Seneca Hippolytus i. ii, in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca 10 Trag. f. 61^v The spotty Hyded Tygar. 1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 340 He strangled His spightfull stepdams Dragons spotty-spangled. 1642 A. Grosse Myst. Self-denyall iii, in Sweet & Soule-perswading Inducements 126 He sees that he is like Jacobs flocke, spotty coloured. 1870 Building News 22 July 59/1 Care should be taken to avoid those spotty-patterned papers..as no class of papers can be more annoying or in worse taste than spotty patterns. 1878 Spectator 26 Jan. 122/1 Attributing the bad condition of spotty-leaved geraniums..to some mysterious and altogether irremediable cause. 1923 Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.) 23 Oct. 4 The spotty-breasted song sparrows are also gathering in flocks. 1983 G. Markstein Ferret 238 The spotty faced greasy haired young man behind the counter. 2005 P. Manseau Vows 304 Bald and spotty-headed, pudgy beneath his vestments. C2. † spotty-throat adj. U.S. Obsolete rare designating a group of sandpipers of the former genus Actodromas (now included in Calidris), characterized by spotted throats. ΚΠ 1884 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2) 625 Actodromas... Pectoral Sandpipers. Spotty-throat Sandpipers. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.n.1340
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