roan

American  

[rohn] / roʊn /

adjective

1. (chiefly of horses) of the color sorrel, chestnut, or bay, sprinkled with gray or white.

2. prepared from leather of this color.

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noun

1. a horse or other animal with a roan coat.

2. a roan color.

3. a soft, flexible sheepskin leather, used in bookbinding, often made to imitate morocco.

roan British  

/ rəʊn /

adjective

1. (of a horse) having a bay ( red roan ), chestnut ( strawberry roan ), or black ( blue roan ) coat sprinkled with white hairs

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noun

1. a horse having such a coat

2. a soft unsplit sheepskin leather with a close tough grain, used in bookbinding, etc

Etymology

Origin of roan

1520–30; < Middle French < Old Spanish roano < Germanic; compare Gothic rauths red

Example Sentences

Gray or roan horses are 0 for their last 31 in the Derby; Essential Quality and Soup and Sandwich will aim to snap that drought.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 30, 2021

He called the servant man to go, Saddled the dappled roan, And he rode to her father’s house that night, Knocked on the door alone.

From The New Yorker • May 13, 2019

He drew attention from his first day on the job, when he mounted a roan gelding to ride across Washington’s National Mall to the Department of Interior.

From Washington Times • Dec. 16, 2018

The horse, a bay roan gelding standing just over 17 hands tall, is normally kept in stables on the Mall and is owned by the U.S.

From Washington Post • Mar. 2, 2017

He turned the roan and urged her toward the stable.

From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander