different between dottle vs mottle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?t?l/

Rhymes: -?t?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English dottel, dottelle (“a plug or tap of a vessel”), a diminutive of Old English dott (> English dot (“a point”)), equivalent to dot +? -le. Related to Old English dyttan (“to stop up, clot”), Dutch dot (“a knot, lump, clod”), Low German Dutte (“a plug”). More at dit.

Alternative forms

• dottel

Noun

dottle (plural dottles)

1. A plug or tap of a vessel.
2. A small rounded lump or mass.
3. The still burning or wholly burnt tobacco plug in a pipe.
   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, Faber p. 96:

     one hand guards the burning dottle of my pipe from the force of the wind

   • 1981, John Gardner, Freddy's Book, Abacus 1982, p. 38:

     I clenched my pipe in my right fist and poked at the dottle busily with various fingers, first one then another, of my left hand.

   • 1984, Alan Dean Foster, The Hour of the Gate, page 89:

     He tapped out the dottle on the deck, locked the steering oar in position, and commenced repacking his pipe.
4. (Tyneside) A baby's dummy, pacifier.

Translations

References

• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4

Etymology 2

Related to dote, dotard.

Adjective

dottle (comparative more dottle, superlative most dottle)

1. (Scotland) Stupid or senile.
   • 1893: David Herschell Edwards, One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets: With Biographical and Critical Notices, volume 15, page 403

     When days and years proclaim you’re old?—
     ?A dottle, cripple, gouty fellow,
     Then for support you can lay hold
     ?O’ the upright of your umberella.

Noun

dottle (plural dottles)

1. (Scotland) A dotard.

Synonyms

• dodipole, dotel; see also Thesaurus:dotard

Anagrams

• Dettol, lotted, tolted

English

Etymology

1670-80. Probably back-formation from motley.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: m?t' l, IPA^(key): /?m?t ?l/
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Verb

mottle (third-person singular simple present mottles, present participle mottling, simple past and past participle mottled)

1. To mark with blotches of different color, or shades of color, as if stained; to spot; to maculate.

Noun

mottle (plural mottles)

1. A distinguishing blotch of color.
2. A mottled coloration or pattern.

   The most common symptom is a mild mottle on the youngest leaves of infected plants.