MOTLEY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Motley

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/mˈɑtli/ Listen

adjective

Motley adj. (compar. motlier; superl. motliest)

Variegated in color; consisting of different colors; dappled; party-colored; as, a motley coat.

Wearing motley or party-colored clothing. See Motley, n., 1. "A motley fool."

Composed of different or various parts; heterogeneously made or mixed up; discordantly composite; as, motley style.

noun

Motley n.

A combination of distinct colors; esp., the party-colored cloth, or clothing, worn by the professional fool. "Motley 's the only wear."

Hence, a jester, a fool. (Obs.)

Man of motley, a fool. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Motley'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Motley" Quotes from Famous Books

... stand, they are at least, in one important aspect, only a kind of annex to the public school system, as I shall shortly point out to you. For the moment, let us consider, together, what to my mind constitutes the very hopeful struggle of the two possibilities: either that the motley and evasive spirit of public schools which has hitherto been fostered, will completely vanish, or that it will have to be completely purified and rejuvenated. And in order that I may not shock you with general propositions, ...

— On the Future of our Educational Institutions • Friedrich Nietzsche

... miscellaneous curiosity of six or seven hundred minds devotes a full hour to the purpose. These questions are presumed to relate solely to musical topics, and the custom was instituted for the relief of timid yet earnest inquirers. A motley crew, however, frequently avail themselves of the masquerade privilege to steal in uninvited. Cecilia illustrates these fantastic ramifications of the young idea for the benefit of friends in the interior. She jots down some of these questions and ...

— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880 • Various

... President did not consult the Senator about the formation of his Cabinet. The breach was gradually widened, and thorough it the Senator finally became completely estranged from his old friend and associate in the Senate, Secretary Fish. When Mr. Motley was removed from the English mission, Mr. Sumner insisted upon regarding it as a personal insult, which he sought to repay by opposition to the acquisition of San Domingo. General Grant endeavored to appease the offended Senator, and on the evening of ...

— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... our eyes discover as we walk along on Market street. Such a medley—infinite, incongruous, comical, pathetic, motley and sublime. ...

— Vignettes of San Francisco • Almira Bailey

... is a hound!—a craven cur, that licks the hand that lashed him!—a poor court fool that thinks it joy enough to carry his bauble, and marvel at his motley coat and his silvered buttons! That he should be ...

— The White Lady of Hazelwood - A Tale of the Fourteenth Century • Emily Sarah Holt

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