DAPPLE

spot, speckle, dapple, patch, fleck, maculation

(noun) a small contrasting part of something; “a bald spot”; “a leopard’s spots”; “a patch of clouds”; “patches of thin ice”; “a fleck of red”

mottle, dapple, cloud

(verb) colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

dapple (plural dapples)

A mottled marking, usually in clusters.

An animal with a mottled or spotted skin or coat.

Adjective

dapple (comparative more dapple, superlative most dapple)

Having a mottled or spotted skin or coat, dappled.

Verb

dapple (third-person singular simple present dapples, present participle dappling, simple past and past participle dappled)

To mark or become marked with mottling or spots.

Anagrams

• appled, lapped, palped

Source: Wiktionary

Dap"ple, n. Etym: [Cf. Icel. depill a spot, a dot, a dog with spots over the eyes, dapi a pool, and E. dimple.]

Definition: One of the spots on a dappled animal. He has . . . as many eyes on his body as my gray mare hath dapples. Sir P. Sidney.

Dap"ple, Dap"pled, a.

Definition: Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse. Some dapple mists still floated along the peaks. Sir W. Scott.

Note: The word is used in composition to denote that some color is variegated or marked with spots; as, dapple-bay; dapple-gray. His steed was all dapple-gray. Chaucer. O, swiftly can speed my dapple-gray steed. Sir W. Scott.

Dap"ple, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dappled; p. pr. & vb. n. Dappling.]

Definition: To variegate with spots; to spot. The gentle day, . . . Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray. Shak. The dappled pink and blushing rose. Prior.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition