Motley (Noun)
Meaning 1
A collection containing a variety of sorts of things; "a great assortment of cars was on display"; "he had a variety of disorders"; "a veritable smorgasbord of religions".
Classification
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects.
Examples
- The thrift store was a motley of second-hand items, with everything from vintage clothing to antique furniture.
- The city's cultural festival was a motley of music, dance, and art from around the world.
- The professor's office was a motley of books, papers, and strange artifacts collected from his travels.
- The city's population was a motley of people from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
- The antique shop was a motley of oddities and curiosities, with something to interest every kind of collector.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
- Grab Bag
- Oddments
- Hotchpotch
- Omnium-gatherum
- Sampler
- Ragbag
- Witches' Broth
- Selection
- Hodgepodge
- Mishmash
- Witch's Brew
- Range
- Mingle-mangle
- Alphabet Soup
- Melange
- Witches' Brew
- Farrago
- Odds And Ends
Related Words
Meaning 2
A multicolored woolen fabric woven of mixed threads in 14th to 17th century England.
Classification
Nouns denoting man-made objects.
Examples
- The itinerant jester's cloak was made of motley, a multicolored fabric that had been a hallmark of his trade for centuries.
- During the Renaissance, the traditional English fabric of motley was often worn by jesters and fools to signify their profession.
- The vibrant colors of the motley fabric stood out against the drab, muted tones of the village surroundings, drawing attention to the lone jester.
- Only the finest weavers in England could produce true motley, with its intricate mix of colored threads that seemed to shift and change as one gazed upon it.
- In the 16th century, the use of motley as a fabric for jester's clothing became more widespread, symbolizing the profession's association with jest, folly, and revelry.
Hypernyms
Related Words
Meaning 3
A garment made of motley (especially a court jester's costume).
Classification
Nouns denoting man-made objects.
Examples
- The colorful motley was a defining feature of the jester's elaborate costume.
- She was amused by the patchwork motley that the juggling clown wore during the medieval festival.
- His lordship was often seen laughing with his loyal fool, resplendent in his striped motley.
- During the Elizabethan era, it was traditional for a fool's motley to feature an extravagant array of mismatched colors.
- At the renaissance fair, she donned a mock-jester's motley as a way of attracting visitors to her games booth.