tawnyadj.n.
/ˈtɔːni/, U.S. /ˈtɔni/, /ˈtɑni/ Name of a composite colour, consisting of brown with a preponderance of yellow or orange; but formerly applied also to other shades of brown.
A. adj.
Having, or being of, this colour.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > yellowish brown > tawny
tawny1377
blaea1400
tandy1496
tenné1562
lion-tawny1573
orange-tawny1583
lion-hued1591
tawnish1675
tawn1920
α.
β. c1425 tr. Arderne's Surgery (E.E.T.S.) 27 Puluer of gallez and psidie and puluer tanny.1564 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 308 Sex pece of broun and tanne clayth.a1585 Ld. Polwart Flyting with Montgomerie 736 Tanny cheeks, I think thou speiks with thy breeks.1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 270 They resemble the similitude of a tanie or a white man.1652 J. Wright tr. J.-P. Camus Nature's Paradox 362 Her complexion (which is somewhat tanny by beeing much exposed to the Sun).1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. v. 196 Þanne cam coueytise..in a tauny tabarde of twelue wynter age.
1395 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 5 I deuyse to..my doughter a tawne bed of silk.
1487 in Surrey Archaeol. Soc. Coll. (1865) III. 163 (modernized text) I bequeathe my tawny velvet gowne to be made a chesible thereof.
1538 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 85 My tawney chamlett dublett.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. xxi. 32 Peruincle..The floure most commonly is blew, & sometimes white, & tawnie, but very seldome.
1599 J. Davies Nosce Teipsum 40 As this worlds Sunne..Makes the More black, & th'European white, Th'American tawnie.
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv. sig. F We must haue you turne Fiddler againe,..'get a Base Violin at your backe, and march in a Tawnie Coate. View more context for this quotation
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. iv. 162 The other Turkes which are borne in Asia major and Ægypt..are of a greater stature, tauny.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Tawny, that is of a tanned, or yellowish, or dusky Colour.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. x. 211 A lion's tawny skin Around him wrapp'd.
1843 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) xii. 150 That port, being a light and tawny wine.
1856 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Flower Garden 60 Hemerocallis flava.—Day Lily; a plant with yellow or tawny flowers.
1904 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. July 2 The patched old tawny sails.
B. n.† 2. † b. plural. Garments made of this cloth. Obsolete.† 4. A sweet beverage, so called from its colour.
1. Tawny colour. In Heraldry. = tenné adj. and n.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [noun] > yellowish brown > tawny
tawnya1400
tawniness?1550
lion-colour1551
lion-tawny1573
orange-tawnyc1574
a1400–50 Alexander 4335 Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na vebbis, To vermylion ne violett ne variant littis.
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) xiii Þe best hue of rennynge houndes whiche be goode, is cleped broune tanne.
1493 in J. T. Fowler Memorials Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1888) III. 164 Pro xij virgis panni coloris de tawne pro vestura choristarum.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxiv. iv. 178 Without forth of a light tawnie or yellowish red.
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie i. iii. 11 Tawny (saith Leigh) is a Colour of worship, and of some Heralds it is called Bruske.
1641 G. Sandys Paraphr. Song Solomon i. i This Tawney from the Sun I took.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 103 The bright red is reduced to somewhat of a tawny.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxiv. 200 I ain't particular about a shade or so of tawny.
a. Cloth of a tawny colour. [Compare Old French tanné.]
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric of specific colour > [noun] > brown
tawny1416
orange-tawnyc1574
α.
β. 1462 J. Daubeney in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 279 Your son wolle have to hys jaketys murry and tany.1494 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 231 To Robert Lundye and the ȝong Lard of Ardross, vij ellis of Rowane tanne.1497 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 343 For iij elne and ane half of Rowane tannee.1501 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 49 iiij elne Franch tanne.1502 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. I. *29 Unius toge de Rowane-tanne.1416 in F. W. Weaver Somerset Medieval Wills (1901) 75 j joup de Taune furr[ata] cum nigro.
1462 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 149 Ffor a ȝerd and di. off tawny, vj.s. vj.d.
1566 A. Edwards Let. 8 Aug. in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) ii. 380 Some blackes for womens garments, with some Orenge colours and tawneis.
1572 in A. Feuillerat Documents Office of Revels Queen Elizabeth (1908) 187 Of Satten Tawnie twelve yardes.
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1338/1 Clothed in white, yellow, and orange tawnie.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [noun] > of specific colour
purpureeOE
blackc1225
greyc1225
white?c1225
greena1250
yellow1368
violet1380
purplec1390
blue1480
colours1641
tawnies1809
butternut1810
subfusc1853
solid1883
Lovat1908
jungle green1946
1809 R. Cumberland John de Lancaster III. 116 The..livery-men brushing up their orange tawnies.
3. A brown-skinned person; = tawny-moor n. archaic.
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the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > darkness > [noun] > person
brownetta1582
ouzel1600
tawny1660
brunet1671
brunette1709
brune1828
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 347 There are Tawnies amongst them, they weare in their eares rings of gold and silver.
1681 London Gaz. No. 1672/4 Run away..a Tall slender Indian Tawney.
1755 B. Franklin Observ. conc. Increase Mankind 15 in W. Clarke Observ. Late & Present Conduct French In America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red.
1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxx. 248 Rajah somebody or other..on his elephant, attended by a train of tawnies.
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the world > food and drink > drink > other drinks > [noun]
Galianesc1386
tawnyc1430
Stygian liquor1638
cool-drink1667
pearl julep1680
ambrosia1685
content1699
amazake1727
carrot juice1772
arrowroot1822
fox-whelp1837
Badminton1845
bug juice1889
mahewu1936
Clamato1951
Arnold Palmer1991
Butterbeer1999
boba2000
β.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 26 Take almaunde Mylke, & Sugre, an powdere Gyngere, & of Galyngale, & of Canelle, and Rede Wine, & boyl y-fere: & þat is gode tannye.
5. A local name for the common bullfinch, from the colouring of the female.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Fringillidae (finch) > [noun] > subfamily Carduelinae > genus Pyrrhula (bullfinch)
alpa1425
owpe?a1513
bullfinch1570
awbe1576
nope1611
mawp1654
woop1668
hoop1669
pope1763
tawny1847
thick-bill1847
leaf-finch1869
plum bird1879
plum-budder1879
1847–78 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words Tawny, a bullfinch. Somerset.
1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 67 The same parts in the female are reddish-brown; hence Tawny (Somerset).
6. = tawny port n. at Compounds 4 below.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > port > types of port
white port1691
blackstrap1763
Roriz1817
ruby port1817
tawny port1847
log-juice1854
Cockburn1859
black stripe1862
ruby1924
tawny1929
Taylor1940
1929 J. B. Priestley Good Compan. ii. i. 278 ‘Waiter, I want a bottle of port.’.. ‘Well, we've the Tawny at three-and-nine the bottle.’
1959 W. James Word-bk. Wine 148 The commonest style of port is tawny, a blend of several vintages between four and ten years old.
1959 W. James Word-bk. Wine 148 White port is simply port made from white grapes, and is sometimes blended with young red port to make the cheaper sorts of tawny.
1976 Times 6 Nov. 13/2 Prices are around £3 for a fine old tawny, about £4 to £5 for a vintage.
Compounds
Combinations and special collocations. C1. Parasynthetic, etc., as tawny-coloured, tawny-eyed, tawny-faced, tawny-haired, tawny-necked, tawny-skinned, tawny-stained, tawny-tanned, tawny-throated, tawny-visaged, tawny-whiskered.
ΚΠ
1589 H. Hawks in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 548 The people of the Countrey, are of a good stature, tawnie coloured, broad faced, flat nosed.
a1618 J. Sylvester New-polished Spectacles in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 1178 When the Leaves in Autumn wither, With a tawny tanned Face.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2298/3 A tawny visaged Man.
1740 P. Pineda New Dict., Spanish & Eng. (new ed.) at Denostar A tawny fac'd Woman dress'd up, reviles the fair one.
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 82 Red, black or white, olive, or tawny-skinned.
1853 M. Arnold Poems (new ed.) 64 Hark! ah, the Nightingale! The tawny-throated!
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. v. 108 Some tawny-whiskered, brown-locked, clear-complexioned young Englishman.
1862 J. H. Burton Book-hunter i. 18 He was not a black-letter man..or a tawny-moroccoite [collector of books bound in tawny morocco].
1930 E. Blunden Poems 42 And tawny-stained with ruin [the brook] trolls across The tiny village battered into dross.
1940 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil Georgics iv. 90 A laminated dragon or lioness tawny-necked.
1952 R. Campbell tr. C. Baudelaire Poems 87 Like angels fierce and tawny-eyed, Back to your chamber I will glide.
C2. With other names of colour, expressing a modification by tawny, as tawny-brown, etc.
ΚΠ
1502 in N. H. Nicolas Privy Purse Expenses Elizabeth of York (1830) 9 iiij yerdes..of sarcenet of tawny grene.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 132 The People were black, or rather of a tawny dark brown.
1751 Affecting Narr. H.M.S. Wager 97 Their Colour a Tawney Olive.
1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 280 It..becomes of a tawney yellow colour.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 619 For..tawny-gray,..the stuff must receive a previous blue ground by dipping it in the indigo vat.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 2/3 I looked across the desert, tawny~gold beneath the pitiless sun.
C3. In special collocations, esp. in names of particular species of animals of a tawny colour, or plants with tawny flowers.
a.
tawny bunting n.
ΚΠ
1776 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (ed. 4, octavo) I. ii. 327 Tawny Bunting.
tawny monkey n.
tawny thrush n.
ΚΠ
1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. 28 Tawny Thrush, Arct. Zool... Head, back, and wing coverts tawny.
1891 Cent. Dict. (at cited word) Tawny thrush, the veery, or Wilson's thrush, Turdus fuscescens, one of the four song~thrushes which are common in eastern parts of North America.
tawny vulture n.
ΚΠ
1781 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 19 Tawny Vulture... Inhabits Falkland Islands.
b.
tawny day-lily n.
tawny sedge n.
ΚΠ
1859 A. Pratt Brit. Grasses & Sedges 35 C[arex] fulva (Tawny Sedge).
c. In collectors' names of moths.
tawny pinion n.
tawny wave n.
C4. † tawny-coat n. Obsolete an ecclesiastical apparitor, from the colour of his livery.
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society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical discipline > court > [noun] > officer of > apparitor
paritorc1429
apparitor1528
tawny-coata1616
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) i. iv. 55 Out Tawney-Coates, out Scarlet Hypocrite. View more context for this quotation
1634 T. Heywood Maidenhead Lost i, in Wks. (1874) IV. 114 Though I was neuer Tawny-coate, I haue playd the summoners part.
tawny eagle n. Aquila rapax, found in Africa and western Asia.
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the world > animals > birds > order Falconiformes (falcons, etc.) > family Accipitridae (hawks, etc.) > [noun] > eagles > genus Aquila > other types of
black eagle1575
tawny eagle1859
Verreaux's eagle1867
1859 Ibis 1 88 The claim of the Tawny Eagle..to be considered European rests at present solely upon a trophy of the Russian war.
1912 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Animal Life Afr. xvii. 286 The tawny eagle is of mottled brown colour above, and tawny chestnut beneath, with yellow legs.
1979 G. Lloyd & D. Lloyd Birds of Prey 82 The Tawny Eagle..of Africa and Asia is 26 to 31 inches in size and is the world's commonest eagle.
tawny emperor n. collectors' name for Apatura herse, a large butterfly (cf. emperor n. 3).
tawny frogmouth n. = podargus n.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Caprimulgiformes (nightjars, etc.) > [noun] > family Podargidae (frogmouth) > podargus strigoides (tawny frogmouth)
podargus1829
tawny frogmouth1901
1901 A. J. Campbell Nests & Eggs Austral. Birds II. 539 (heading) Tawny frogmouth.
1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Apr. 21/4 My choice for the quietest bush bird is the tawny frogmouth, or podargus.
1968 Breeden & Slater Birds Austral. 69 (caption) The yawn of this Tawny Frogmouth reveals its enormous gape.
tawny owl n. (a) the common British brown owl, Strix aluco; (b) Guiding (with capital initials) a Brown Owl's assistant.
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the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > family Strigidae > genus Strix > strix aluco (tawny owl)
jenny whooper1600
aluco1657
grey owl1673
ivy-owl1674
brown owl1678
tawny owl1766
wood-owl1809
hoot owl1885
society > society and the community > social relations > an association, society, or organization > specific societies or organizations > [noun] > specific youth organizations > members of scouts or guides
Boy Scout1908
patrol leader1908
scout1908
scoutmaster1908
tenderfoot1908
captain1909
Girl Guide1909
Girl Scout1909
lieutenant1909
pathfinder1911
sea scout1911
rosebud1914
brownie1916
sixer1916
tenderpad1916
Brown Owl1918
rover1918
Rover Scout1918
ranger1920
tawny owl1921
Cub1922
Akela1924
scouter1930
Guider1931
den mother1936
Queen's Guide1946
Queen's Scout1952
Venture Scout1966
Beaver1975
skipper1986
1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. i. 72 The Tawny Owl... The color of this kind is sufficient to distinguish it from every other.
1921 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Brownies (ed. 2) 60 A Brownie Pack consists of not less than two Sixes..under a Brownie Guider, who is called the Brown Owl, and her assistant the Tawny Owl.
1950 Oxf. Junior Encycl. IX. 254/1 Brownies are divided into ‘Packs’ of 18–24 children, under the leadership of two adult leaders, known to the Brownies as ‘Brown Owl’ and ‘Tawny Owl’.
1973 Brownie 10 Jan. 7/1 Our Pack has a membership of 20 keen Brownies... Our meetings are held at Brown Owl's house... Tawny Owl is a Sister at Hetune and walks all the way to our meetings.
tawny port n. a port wine made from a blend of several vintages matured in wood (see quot. 1951).
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > wine > fortified wine, Madeira wine, and sack > [noun] > port > types of port
white port1691
blackstrap1763
Roriz1817
ruby port1817
tawny port1847
log-juice1854
Cockburn1859
black stripe1862
ruby1924
tawny1929
Taylor1940
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xlii. 382 The particular tawny port was produced when he dined with Mr. Osborne.
1951 R. Postgate Plain Man's Guide to Wine viii. 116 Tawny port is port of various years, blended and matured in cask... Tawny port..soon loses the rich purple colour of vintage port, and is ready to drink much sooner.
1979 Country Life 4 Jan. 40/1 (advt.) Old Tawny Port wines by Quinta do Noval..Portugal.
Derivatives
Obsolete. rare.† ˈtawny v. Obsolete (transitive) to make tawny; to tan.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > skin > complexion > tan > [verb (transitive)]
tan1530
tawny1602
tawn1721
smirch1828
1602 N. Breton Mothers Blessing sig. D4 The Sunne so soone, the painted face will tawny.
1613 T. Heywood Brazen Age ii. ii He smels all smoake, and with his nasty sweate Tawnies my skinne.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1377- set in a say
- set in action
- set in adventure
- set in another's neck
- set in array
- set in broil
- set in delay
- set in effray
- set in farm
- set in feu, in feu ferm, in lease, in tack
- set in feu-farm
- set in feufarm
- set in flame(s
- set in foot
- set in gear
- set in governance
- set in hand
- set in motion
- set in on the pillory
- serpentiningly
- serpentinings
- serpentinise
- serpentinised
- serpentinises
- serpentinising