merle
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merle 1
also merl (mûrl)n.
See blackbird.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin merulus, merula.]
merle 2
(mûrl)adj.
Having a coat with irregular streaks or speckles of a contrasting color. Used of certain dogs.
n.
A dog with a merle coat.
[Perhaps from merle.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
merle
(mɜːl; Scottish mɛrl) ormerl
n
(Animals) Scot another name for the (European) blackbird
[C15: via Old French from Latin merula]
merle
(mɜːl)adj
(Animals) (of a dog, esp a collie) having a bluish-grey coat with speckles or streaks of black. Often called: blue merle
[C20: from dialect mirlet, mirly speckled]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
black•bird
(ˈblækˌbɜrd)n.
1. any of several birds of the New World subfamily Icterinae (family Emberizidae) having shiny black or mostly black plumage, as the red-winged blackbird.
2. a common European thrush, Turdus merula, the male of which is black with a yellow bill.
3. a Kanaka who was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Australia.
v.i. 4. to kidnap Kanakas and sell them into slavery.
[1480–90]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | merle - common black European thrush thrush - songbirds characteristically having brownish upper plumage with a spotted breast genus Turdus, Turdus - type genus of the Turdidae |
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