Vocabulary Word
Word: motley
Definition: multi-colored (as of a garment worn by a jester); mixed; heterogeneous; CF. jester: one who jests (as a paid fool at medieval courts)
Definition: multi-colored (as of a garment worn by a jester); mixed; heterogeneous; CF. jester: one who jests (as a paid fool at medieval courts)
Sentences Containing 'motley'
Besides, no one will trouble himself to verify whether you have followed them or whether you have not, being no way concerned in it; especially as, if I mistake not, this book of yours has no need of any one of those things you say it wants, for it is, from beginning to end, an attack upon the books of chivalry, of which Aristotle never dreamt, nor St. Basil said a word, nor Cicero had any knowledge; nor do the niceties of truth nor the observations of astrology come within the range of its fanciful vagaries; nor have geometrical measurements or refutations of the arguments used in rhetoric anything to do with it; nor does it mean to preach to anybody, mixing up things human and divine, a sort of motley in which no Christian understanding should dress itself.
For though the harpooneers, with the great body of the crew, were a far more barbaric, heathenish, and motley set than any of the tame merchant-ship companies which my previous experiences had made me acquainted with, still I ascribed this--and rightly ascribed it--to the fierce uniqueness of the very nature of that wild Scandinavian vocation in which I had so abandonedly embarked.
More Vocab Words
::: chauvinist - blindly devoted patriot; zealous adherent of a group, cause, or sex; ADJ. chauvinistic; CF. chauvinism; Nicolas Chauvin::: extrapolation - projection; conjecture; V. extrapolate: infer (unknown information) from known information
::: remonstrate - protest; objection; V. remonstrate: say in protest
::: comely - attractive; agreeable; having a pleasing appearance
::: proximity - nearness; ADJ. proximate
::: disaffected - disloyal; lacking loyality; V. disaffect: cause to lose affection or loyalty
::: contortions - twistings; distortions; V. contort: twist violently out of shape; CF. contortionist
::: willowy - flexible; pliant; slender; CF. willow
::: potable - suitable for drinking; drinkable
::: reconnaissance - survey of enemy by soldiers; reconnoitering; V. reconnoiter: make a preliminary inspection of (esp. to gather military information)
