motley

From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle +‎ -y.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɒtli/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑtli/
• Hyphenation: mot‧ley

motley (comparative more motley or motlier, superlative most motley or motliest)

1. Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity.

   Synonyms: heterogeneous, diverse, manifold; see also Thesaurus:heterogeneous

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], lines 906–907:

     I met a fool i' th' forest, / A motley' fool.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

2. Having many colours; variegated.

   Synonyms: colorful, prismatic, variegated; see also Thesaurus:multicolored

• motley crew
• motley fool
• motley iron
• motleyness

motley (plural motleys)

1. An incongruous mixture.
2. A jester's multicoloured clothes.
3. (by extension) A jester; a fool.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], line 71, page 198, column 2:

     Wil you be married, Motley?

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 110”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     Alas, 'tis true, I have gone here and there, / And made myself a motley to the view, […]

• etymol.