Link Centre Dictionary

dapple

UK/ˈdæpəɫ/ uncommon
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

a small contrasting part of something

  • “a bald spot”
  • “a leopard”
  • “;”
  • “;”
  • “;”
Synonyms

verb

1.

colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

Synonyms

Origin

Uncertain. The adjective is first attested circa 1550 though the first element is already attested in dapple-grey as early as 1386, in Middle English, and later as dappled circa 1400; the OED suggests either: * a back-formation from dapple-grey, itself a variant of apple-grey, compare possible cognates all said of horses: Old Norse apalgrár (whence Norwegian abildgrå and Swedish apel-grå), German apfelgrau. Compare also French pommelé (“dappled”), from pomme (“an apple”); or, * a relation with Icelandic depill (“a dot, spot”). The noun and verb are both later attested likely as back-formations.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.