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brindled

[brin-dld]
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adjective
  1. gray or tawny with darker streaks or spots.
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Origin of brindled

1670–80; alteration of brinded, with -le perhaps from grizzled, speckled, etc.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for brindled

Historical Examples

  • The brindled cow, which has led us hither, will supply us with milk.

    Tanglewood Tales

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Brown by nature and instinct, he is now brindled with dirt and dust.

  • All muffled up in brindled shawls, do caper, frisk, and spring?'

    Songs of Childhood

    Walter de la Mare

  • The “brindled gnoo” is the other species that inhabits the South of Africa.

  • On the hearth lay three animals—a hen, a cock, and a brindled cow.

British Dictionary definitions for brindled

brindled

adjective
  1. brown or grey streaked or patched with a darker coloura brindled dog
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Word Origin

C17: changed from C15 brended, literally: branded, probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse bröndottr; see brand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for brindled

adj.

"marked with streaks, streaked with a dark color," 1670s, from Middle English brended (early 15c.), from bren "brown color" (13c.), noun made from past participle of brennen "burn" (see burn (v.)); the derived adjective perhaps means "marked as though by branding or burning." Form altered perhaps by influence of kindled.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper