merle

1

or merl

[ murl ]

nounChiefly Scot.
  1. the blackbird, Turdus merula.

Origin of merle

1
1350–1400; Middle English merule<Middle French <Latin merulus, merula ousel, blackbird

Words Nearby merle

Other definitions for merle (2 of 3)

merle2
[ murl ]

noun
  1. a bluish gray color mottled with black.

adjective
  1. being the color merle.

Origin of merle

2
First recorded in 1900–05; origin uncertain

Other definitions for Merle (3 of 3)

Merle
[ murl ]

noun
  1. a male or female given name.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use merle in a sentence

  • I realize now that this story was a major influence on the merle Zane character in the Niceville series.

  • You hear it in Hank Williams Sr., merle Haggard, early Dolly Parton, and you hear it in George Jones.

  • merle glanced up to see him despoiling a bush that embowered one of the brown headstones and an all but obliterated mound.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • It was Wilbur's, but merle quite naturally took it from him and assumed charge of the ensuing operation.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • As merle demonstrated the problem in hydraulics the girl studied him more attentively, then gleamed with a sudden new radiance.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • The merle twin never smoked for two famous Puritan reasons—it was wrong for boys to smoke and it made him sick.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson
  • The quick-thinking merle twin had by now devised an exit from any complicity in whatever was meant.

    The Wrong Twin | Harry Leon Wilson

British Dictionary definitions for merle (1 of 2)

merle1

merl

/ (mɜːl, Scottish mɛrl) /


noun
  1. Scot another name for the (European) blackbird

Origin of merle

1
C15: via Old French from Latin merula

British Dictionary definitions for merle (2 of 2)

merle2

/ (mɜːl) /


adjective
  1. (of a dog, esp a collie) having a bluish-grey coat with speckles or streaks of black: Often called: blue merle

Origin of merle

2
C20: from dialect mirlet, mirly speckled

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