Meanings
plural dapples
- A mottled marking, usually in clusters.
- An animal with a mottled or spotted skin or coat.
A Sarronnese officer whom he did not know was leading a riderless horse, a dapple.
1996, L E Modesitt, The Order War2 more examples
“My brother,” said he, “do not ride to–day / The dapple, as you’re wont; but mount the horse / Which I have chosen for thee.
1800, Samuel Taylor Coleridge tr., Friedrich von Schiller, The Death of Wallenstein, http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1419158775&id=bXOEL5RL6DsC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&sig=9x8UPZTbcIMkCOkMCSHT1YEwX9M 20042004, D Caroline Coile, http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0764126733&id=vmTgPakg8nUC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&sig=5r0UWTYWxGcZayQlGiP4v3b1ajU Some well-intentioned breeders inadvertently breed two dapples together because occasionally a dapple will have so few patches of mottled coloration it appears undappled.
comparative more dapple · superlative most dapple
- Having a mottled or spotted skin or coat, dappled.
Some dapple mists still floated along the peaks.
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC1 more example
I was on a running Morgan that could leave anything in six counties behind, and all she had was that short-hocked dapple pony.
1984, Dan Parkinson, Gunpowder Glory, page 103
present singular third person dapples · participle present dappling · participle past dappled · past dappled
- To mark or become marked with mottling or spots.
dappling black on white with uneven strokes
1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 752 more examples
Jt ſeemes it is in faſhion vvith you to ſugar your papers vvith Carnation phraſes, and dapple your ſpeeches vvith nevv quodled vvords.
1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 77Kris awoke with a start. Sweat dappled his forehead, and he brushed it away.
2006, Ace Edmonds, Bands, Part 2
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Uncertain. The adjective is first attested circa 1550 though the first element is already attested in dapple-grey as early as 1386, in Middle English, and later as dappled circa 1400; the OED suggests either: * a back-formation from dapple-grey, itself a variant of apple-grey, compare possible cognates all said of horses: Old Norse apalgrár (whence Norwegian abildgrå and Swedish apel-grå), German apfelgrau. Compare also French pommelé (“dappled”), from pomme (“an apple”); or, * a relation with Icelandic depill (“a dot, spot”). The noun and verb are both later attested likely as back-formations.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic أَبْرَش
- أَبْرَش (ʔabraš)having a spotted skin or coat
Bulgarian пъстър, петнист
- пъстър (păstăr)having a spotted skin or coat
- петнист (petnist)having a spotted skin or coat
- изпъстрям (izpăstrjam)to mark with spots
- изпъстрям се (izpăstrjam se)to mark with spots
Catalan clapejar
- clapejarto mark with spots
Finnish laikku, papurikko
- laikkumottled marking
- papurikkodappled animal
- laikukas (eläin)dappled animal
- laikukashaving a spotted skin or coat
French taché, tacheté
- tachéhaving a spotted skin or coat
- tachetéhaving a spotted skin or coat
- tacheterto mark with spots
German Schecke, scheckig
- Scheckedappled animal
- scheckighaving a spotted skin or coat
- sprenglichhaving a spotted skin or coat
- sprenklichhaving a spotted skin or coat
- sprenglighaving a spotted skin or coat
- fleckighaving a spotted skin or coat
- sprenkelnto mark with spots
- scheckig machento mark with spots
- besprenkelnto mark with spots
- betüpfelnto mark with spots
Russian пятнистая окра́ска, пятни́стый
- пятнистая окра́ска (pjatnistaja)mottled marking
- пятни́стый (pjatnístyj)having a spotted skin or coat
- в яблоках (v jáblokakh)having a spotted skin or coat
- чуба́рый (čubáryj)having a spotted skin or coat
- чудить (čuditʹ)to mark with spots
- дурачиться (duračitʹsja)to mark with spots
- капризничать (kaprizničatʹ)to mark with spots
- покрыва́ть пятнами (pokryvátʹ)to mark with spots
- покрываться пятнами (pokryvatʹsja)to mark with spots
- пятнить (pjatnitʹ)to mark with spots
- пятниться (pjatnitʹsja)to mark with spots
- пятнать (pjatnatʹ)to mark with spots
- пятнаться (pjatnatʹsja)to mark with spots
- запятнать (zapjatnatʹ)to mark with spots
- запятнаться (zapjatnatʹsja)to mark with spots
- испятнать (ispjatnatʹ)to mark with spots
Spanish tordo, animal de piel moteada
- tordodappled animal
- animal de piel moteadadappled animal
- tordohaving a spotted skin or coat
- moteadohaving a spotted skin or coat
- habadohaving a spotted skin or coat
- motearto mark with spots
- salpicarto mark with spots
Swedish apelkastad
- apelkastadhaving a spotted skin or coat
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with dapple
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
dapple. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dapple
“dapple.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dapple. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dapple,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dapple.
Source: dapple on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.