adj
Meaning 1
Having a mottled or spotted skin or coat, dappled.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
dapple
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: [ˈdæpəɫ]
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -æpəl
noun
Meaning 2
A mottled marking, usually in clusters.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
An animal with a mottled or spotted skin or coat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- 2004, D Caroline Coile, http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0764126733&id=vmTgPakg8nUC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&sig=5r0UWTYWxGcZayQlGiP4v3b1ajU Some well-intentioned breeders inadvertently breed two dapples together because occasionally a dapple will have so few patches of mottled coloration it appears undappled.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To mark or become marked with mottling or spots.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
a small contrasting part of something
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a bald spot
- a leopard's spots
- a patch of clouds
- patches of thin ice
- a fleck of red
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: spot, speckle, patch, fleck, maculation
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: marking
Narrower terms: speck, pinpoint, nebula, splash, worn spot, fret, plaque, macule, macula, parhelion, mock sun, sundog, sunspot, facula
verb
Meaning 6
colour with streaks or blotches of different shades
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: mottle, cloud
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: spot
Narrower terms: harlequin, stipple, speckle
History
Etymology
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.
Across languages
Translations
45 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Arabic: أَبْرَش (ʔabraš) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Bulgarian: пъстър (pǎstǎr) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Bulgarian: петнист (petnist) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Finnish: laikukas — having a spotted skin or coat
- French: taché — having a spotted skin or coat
- French: tacheté — having a spotted skin or coat
- German: scheckig — having a spotted skin or coat
- German: sprenglich — having a spotted skin or coat
- German: sprenklich — having a spotted skin or coat
- German: sprenglig — having a spotted skin or coat
- German: fleckig — having a spotted skin or coat
- Russian: пятни́стый (pjatnístyj) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Russian: в яблоках (v jáblokakh) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Russian: чуба́рый (čubáryj) — having a spotted skin or coat
- Spanish: tordo — having a spotted skin or coat
- Spanish: moteado — having a spotted skin or coat
- Spanish: habado — having a spotted skin or coat
- Swedish: apelkastad — having a spotted skin or coat
- Finnish: laikku — mottled marking
- Russian: пятнистая окра́ска (pjatnistaja) — mottled marking
- Finnish: papurikko — dappled animal
- Finnish: laikukas (eläin) — dappled animal
- German: Schecke — dappled animal
- Spanish: tordo — dappled animal
- Spanish: animal de piel moteada — dappled animal
- Bulgarian: изпъстрям (izpǎstrjam) — to mark with spots
- Bulgarian: изпъстрям се (izpǎstrjam se) — to mark with spots
- Catalan: clapejar — to mark with spots
- French: tacheter — to mark with spots
- German: sprenkeln — to mark with spots
- German: scheckig machen — to mark with spots
- German: besprenkeln — to mark with spots
- German: betüpfeln — to mark with spots
- Russian: покрыва́ть пятнами (pokryvátʹ) — to mark with spots
- Russian: покрываться пятнами (pokryvatʹsja) — to mark with spots
- Russian: пятнить (pjatnitʹ) — to mark with spots
- Russian: пятниться (pjatnitʹsja) — to mark with spots
- Russian: пятнать (pjatnatʹ) — to mark with spots
- Russian: пятнаться (pjatnatʹsja) — to mark with spots
- Russian: запятнать (zapjatnatʹ) — to mark with spots
- Russian: запятнаться (zapjatnatʹsja) — to mark with spots
- Russian: испятнать (ispjatnatʹ) — to mark with spots
- Russian: испятнаться (ispjatnatʹsja) — to mark with spots
- Spanish: motear — to mark with spots
- Spanish: salpicar — to mark with spots