motley
American Heritage Dictionary:
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mot·ley
(mŏt'lē) 
adj.
adj.
- Having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous: "Most Ivy League freshman classes are chosen from a motley collection of constituencies . . . and a bare majority of entering students can honestly be called scholars" (New York Times).
- Having many colors; variegated; parti-colored: a motley tunic.
- The parti-colored attire of a court jester.
- A heterogeneous, often incongruous mixture of elements.
[Middle English motlei, variegated cloth, variegated, probably from Anglo-Norman, probably from Middle English mot, speck. See mote1.]
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Motley, costume designers. Founded in the early 1930s in London by Audrey Sophia Harris, Margaret F. Harris, and Elizabeth Montgomery, the company designed clothes for West End shows for a decade before beginning to offer their work to Americans in 1941. Among the plays that featured their costume designs were A Bell for Adano (1944), Anne of the Thousand Days (1948), South Pacific (1949), Can‐Can (1953), Peter Pan (1954), Middle of the Night (1956), The Most Happy Fella (1956), and Long Day's Journey into Night (1956).
Roget's Thesaurus:
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motley
adjective
- Consisting of a number of different kinds: assorted, divers, diverse, diversified, heterogeneous, miscellaneous, mixed, multifarious, multiform, sundry, varied, variegated, various. Biology polymorphic, polymorphous. See same/different/compare.
- Having many different colors: multicolor, multicolored, polychromatic, polychrome, polychromic, polychromous, varicolored, variegated, versicolor, versicolored. See colors/colorless.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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motley
adj
Definition: mixed, varied
Antonyms: homogenous, like, same, similar, uniform, unmixed, unvaried
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'motley'
- Fabrics and Cloth - motley: varicolored cotton fabric, esp. for jester’s costume
- Fashion, Trim, and Sewing - motley: (adj) of variegated material, like Renaissance fool’s outfit
- Stagecraft, Production, and Dramatic Structure - motley: multicolored garment traditionally worn by jester
- Confusion
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Motley
For other uses, see Motley (disambiguation).
Motley refers to the traditional costume of the court jester, or the harlequin character in commedia dell'arte. The latter wears a patchwork of red, green and blue diamonds that is still a fashion motif.
The word motley is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as a cognate with medley, although the unrelated mottled has also contributed to the meaning. The word is most commonly used as an adjective or noun, but is also seen as a verb and adverb. When used as a noun, it can mean "a varied mixture." As an adjective, it is generally disparaging — a motley collection is an uninspiring pile of stuff, as in the cliche motley crew.
The word originated in England between the 14th and 17th centuries and referred to a woolen fabric of mixed colors.[1] It was the characteristic dress of the professional fool. During the reign of Elizabeth I, motley served the important purpose of keeping the fool outside the social hierarchy and therefore not subject to class distinction. Since the fool was outside the dress laws (sumptuary law), the fool was able to speak more freely.
Likewise, motley did not have to be checkered and has been recently thought to be one pattern with different colored threads running through it.
Motley is the only wear.—Shakespeare, As You Like It, ii. 7
See also
- Jester
- Shakespearian fool
- Trickster
- Crumpet
- Debbie McGee
- Gerrit Ybema
- YWCA
- Grevel Lindop
- Dawley
- Dale Winton
- Mike Nolan
- Bernie Nolan
- Robert Burns
- Bob Wilson
- Wilson Phillips
- Philip II
- World War 2
- Smethwick
- Les Binks
Notes
External links
- National Guild of Jesters (UK) Hall of Fame. Various examples of motley.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Motley
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - spraglet, broget
n. - broget blanding
Nederlands (Dutch)
bont, bonte mengeling, nar(renpak)
Français (French)
adj. - bariolé
n. - habit bariolé du bouffon
Deutsch (German)
adj. - bunt
n. - Narrenkostüm, Durcheinander
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - παρδαλός, ετερογενής, ποικίλος, πολύχρωμος, ετερόκλητος
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - heterogêneo, estampado (tecido)
Русский (Russian)
всякая всячина, пестрый, разнородный
Español (Spanish)
adj. - abigarrado, multicolor, variado, diversificado
n. - abigarramiento, mescolanza
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - brokig
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
杂色的, 斑驳的, 混杂的, 杂多的, 杂色, 混杂, 杂色衣服
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 雜色的, 斑駁的, 混雜的, 雜多的
n. - 雜色, 混雜, 雜色衣服
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 잡다한, 얼룩얼룩한
n. - 광대, 얼룩얼룩한 옷
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 雑多な, まだらの, 雑多の, 混成の, 雑色の
n. - まだら服, まだら
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) تشكيله, خليط
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מגוון, מעורב
n. - תערובת מגוונת, תלבושת ליצן (מיושן)
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
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