brinded
English
Etymology
From Middle English brended (“burnt, branded”). Ultimately probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse brǫndóttr, Icelandic bröndóttr (“brindled”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɹɪndɪd/
Adjective
brinded (comparative more brinded, superlative most brinded)
- (archaic) Especially of the fur or skin of animals: having a patchy or streaky pattern, usually brown or grey in colour; brindled.
- Synonyms: mottled, tabby
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
- Thrice the brinded Cat hath mew'd.
- 1845, Thomas Cooper, The Purgatory of Suicides, Book the Fourth, Stanza IX:
- If thou return not, Gammer o'er her pail
- Will sing in sorrow, 'neath the brinded cow,
- And Gaffer sigh over his nut-brown ale […]
- 1877, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied Beauty”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, OCLC 5093462, lines 1–3, page 30:
- Glory be to God for dappled things— / For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; / For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim: […]
References
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- “brinded” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.