Results for motley
On this page:
 
Dictionary:

motley

  (mŏt') pronunciation
adj.
  1. 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).
  2. Having many colors; variegated; parti-colored: a motley tunic.
n., pl. -leys.
  1. The parti-colored attire of a court jester.
  2. 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.]


 
 

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).

 
Antonyms: motley

adj

Definition: mixed, varied
Antonyms: homogenous, like, same, similar, uniform, unmixed, unvaried


 
Wikipedia: motley
Harlequin in motley attire, year 1761 by Maurice Sand
Enlarge
Harlequin in motley attire, year 1761 by Maurice Sand

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 thought by the Oxford English Dictionary to be 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.

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.



 
Translations: Translations for: 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

Italiano (Italian)
variopinto

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)‬


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "motley" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Motley" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: