brindled
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of brindled
1670–80; alteration of brinded, with -le perhaps from grizzled, speckled ( def. ), etc.
Explanation
Brindled refers to a pattern of brown or gray markings or streaks on an animal. Patches is a perfect name for the brindled puppy you adopted from the shelter. A brindled French bulldog named "I'm on Fire" was a group winner at the 2010 Westminster Dog Show. Other breeds of dogs that may have brindled coats include pit bulls, boxers and bull mastiffs, but you can use this word to describe cats, pigs and horses as well. Brindled is a Middle English word related to the word burn and has come to mean the streaky brown and gray color of something burned.
Vocabulary lists containing brindled
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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Unit 1, Words to Know
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"Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, Chapters 3–4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dragonfish have “luminous barbels swinging from their chins”; a Pacific sleeper shark possesses “a body as brindled as old granite.”
From Scientific American • Jun. 20, 2023
It was on a mammoth brindled rock, stained with rust, black and orange.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2022
He had the breed’s quintessential smashed face, tulip-shaped ears and a brindled coat.
From Salon • Oct. 2, 2012
The long sittings made historic a small, thickly upholstered sofa and a ponderous, brindled Great Dane named Jefferson, whom the Governor addressed now and then to ease his mind.
From Time Magazine Archive
Little Walder quartered the twin towers of Frey with the brindled boar of his grandmother's House and the plowman of his mother's: Crakehall and Darry, re-spectively.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
