brindle

plural brindles

1. uncountableusuallyA streaky colouration in animals.
2. uncountableusuallyAn animal so coloured.

   I snatch at the puppy closest to me, the brindle, which is limp in my hand, and shove it down my shirt.

   2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 235

comparative more brindle · superlative most brindle

1. Having such a colouration; brindled.

   It is brindle. Stripes of black and brown ride its ribs like a zebra’s.

   2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 18

   Synonyms: tabby

present singular third person brindles · participle present brindling · participle past brindled · past brindled

1. To form streaks of a different color.

   It is the perfect opposition of dark and light that brindles the tiger with gold flame and dark flame.

   1925, D.H. Lawrence, Reflections on the Death of Porcupine and Other Essays

   2 more examples

   Sorely too as I laboured and toiled, the reward of toil would not come ; already my back began to curve, and my hair to brindle itself with gray, yet I saw no luck before me.

   1841, The Metropolitan - Volume 30, page 226

   The darkest areas (the points) may brindle or become bleached by brilliant sunlight, especially in chocolate and white points.

   1993, Peter Warner, Perfect Cats, page 78

plural Brindles

1. countableuncountableA small village and civil parish in Chorley borough, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD5924).
2. countableuncountableA surname.