Dictionary.com

Word of the Day Archive
Friday July 4, 2008

dapple \DAP-uhl\, noun:
1. A small contrasting spot or blotch.
2. A mottled appearance, especially of the coat of an animal (as a horse).

transitive verb:
1. To mark with patches of a color or shade; to spot.

intransitive verb:
1. To become dappled.

adjective:
1. Marked with contrasting patches or spots; dappled.

Look at . . . his cows with their comic camouflage dapples . . . .
-- Arthur C. Danto, "Sometimes Red", ArtForum, January 2002

70 diamond- and hexagonal-shaped holes, 35 between the North End ramp and the northbound lanes, and 35 between the northbound and southbound lanes, allow light to filter through and dapple the river below.
-- Raphael Lewis, "A walk into the future", Boston Globe, May 9, 2002

Gentle shafts of sunlight . . . dapple the grass.
-- Gail Sheehy, Hillary's Choice

Dapple derives from Old Norse depill, "a spot."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for dapple

 

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