maculation

maculation

English

Maculation on the leaves of a calla lily.

Pronunciation

• enPR: /măk′yə-lā′shən/

Noun

maculation (plural maculations)

1. (obsolete) The act of spotting; a spot; a blemish.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     I speak not ‘be thou true,’ as fearing thee,
     For I will throw my glove to Death himself,
     That there’s no maculation in thy heart:

   • 1891, Ambrose Bierce, “A Holy Terror” in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, San Francisco: E. L. G. Steele, p. 218,

     He could make out a mottled pattern on the hollow cheeks—the maculations of decay.

2. (zoology, botany, chiefly uncountable) A pattern of spots.
   • 1975, William H. Howe (editor), The Butterflies of North America, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, p. 217,

     Females [of the species Speyeria nokomis] are cream above with heavy black maculation accompanied by much dark suffusion.

   • 1990, Mason E. Hale, A Synopsis of the Lichen Genus Xanthoparmelia (Vainio) Hale (Ascomycotina, Parmeliaceae), Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 195,

     [This lichen] species […] is recognized by […] more or less distinct maculation on the upper surface, and pale brown lower surface.

Derived terms

• solar maculation

Related terms

• immaculate