variegated, ppl. a.
(ˈvɛərɪɪgeɪtɪd, -rɪg-)
[f. prec. or L. variegāt-us, pa. pple. of variegāre.]
1. a. Marked with patches or spots of different colours; varied in colour; of diverse or various colours; many-coloured, vari-coloured; spec. in Bot. (see variegation 1).
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Norwich (1662) 274 The skil in making Tulips..variegated, with stripes of divers colours. 1688 Boyle Final Causes ii. 46 In sawing pieces of variegated marbles. 1718 Pope Odyss. xv. 145 She said, and gave the veil;..The prince the variegated present took. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 218 The glittering of the sun on their variegated plumage. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xviii. (1787) II. 78 A variegated flowing robe of silk. 1812 Examiner 24 Aug. 544/2 Some of his tradesmen..illuminated their houses with variegated lamps. 1852 Beck's Florist 212 This magnificent new variegated plant is a native of Java. 1876 J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 565 They are sometimes smooth, sometimes ribbed, upon the surface, and often variegated in colour. |
| Comb. 1763 Mills Pract. Husb. III. 238 However, neither the yellow, nor the variegated, flowered lucerne is ever so strong as that with purple flowers. 1883 Harper's Mag. April 727/1 Near it is the striking foliage of the variegated-leaved althea. |
b. In the specific names of animals, birds, etc.
A large number of similar uses occur in the works of Latham and Shaw.
| 1783 Latham Gen. Syn. Birds II. i. 99 Variegated chatterer. Ibid. 181 Variegated Bunting (Emberiza principalis). 1792 Shaw Mus. Leverianum 38 The Variegated Baboon. 1801 ― Gen. Zool. II. 17 Variegated Cavy. Ibid. 123 Variegated Marmot. 1802 Ibid. III. i. 235 Variegated Lizard. 1804 Ibid. V. ii. 439 Variegated Sun-fish. 1814 Leach Zool. Misc. I. 117 Variegated Coucal. 1840 [see sole n.2 2]. 1871 Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 95 The Douc, or Variegated Monkey,..is perhaps the most gaily clad of all this group. 1881 Ibid. V. 73 The Variegated Sole (Solea variegata) is rarely more than eight or nine inches long, and closely resembles the Common Sole. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v., Variegated spider-monkey, Ateles variegatus, or bartlettii. |
c. In the names of plants or shrubs.
| 1818 M. Edgeworth Let. 4 Oct. (1971) 107 All the varieties of trees and shrubs..he has now revealed to view—The tulip tree and acacia and variegated oak and..the variegated rhododendron. 1852 G. W. Johnson Cott. Gard. Dict. 904/2 Variegated Laurel, Aucuba. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 260 Variegated Simethis. 1859 ― Brit. Grasses 298 Variegated Rough Horse-tail. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. x. 100 Boughs of laurustinus, and variegated box,..and boy's love. |
d. Min. (See quots.)
| 1836 T. Thomson Min., Geol., etc. I. 622 Variegated Copper Ore. Buntkupfererz—liver-coloured copper ore. 1862 Dana Min. 294 Erubescite.—Variegated Copper Pyrites. 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. s.v., Variegated copper-ore, the same as Bornite. Ibid., Variegated-sandstone, a name formerly given to the New Red Sandstone. |
2. a. Marked or characterized by variety; of a varied character, form, or nature; diverse.
| 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. vii. 3 Therein was abundantly seen Gods πολυποίκιλος σοϕία, his variegated wisdom. 1687 N. N. Old Popery 18 God Almighty..accepts the variegated Services of his different Creatures. 1762 Falconer Shipwr. Proem 20 Ye ever-tuneful Nine! whose sacred lyres,..in softer notes, express The variegated pang of deep distress. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 110 The dancers prance it away, with wild and quick sliding steps, and variegated postures of body. 1798 Washington Lett. Writ. 1893 XIV. 57 The variegated and important duties of the Aids of a Commander-in-Chief..require experienced Officers. 1817 Chalmers Astron. Disc. iv. (1852) 105 The minute and variegated details of the way in which this wondrous economy is extended. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 387, I go along the same variegated path I came by yesterday. |
b. Composed of persons of various characters or kinds; heterogeneous; motley. rare.
| 1807 Wordsw. White Doe i. 162 A variegated band Of middle aged, and old, and young. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) I. xix. 381 The variegated group which composed Lord Aberdeen's ministry. |
3. Varied or diversified (in colour, appearance, etc.) with something.
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 379 The whole World, variegated with Plants, Animals and Stars, being his [sc. God's] Temple. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 156 ¶10 No plays have oftener filled the eye with tears..than those which are variegated with interludes of mirth. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 265 The colour is generally an olive brown, variegated with one that is more dusky. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 180 The tract of country..is happily variegated with plains and mountains, hills and vallies. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 433 The surface is variegated with hills and eminences, streams of water, and fertile plains. 1845 Florist's Jrnl. (1846) VI. 104 Their colour is a bright-golden scarlet; the limb variegated with red and yellow. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 287 Corolla blue variegated with white inside. |
4. Characterized by variegation (of colour).
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 7 Who does not admire the variegated diversity of colours in her [the butterfly's] expansed wings? 1835 Lyell Princ. Geol. iii. xvi. (ed. 4) III. 271 The surface..was of a variegated colour. 1877 Black Green Past. xlii, A rich wilderness of flowers, of the most bountiful verdure and variegated colours. |
5. Produced by variation; variant.
| 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. iv. 143 For all that disease is disease, and not a variegated form of health. |
Hence ˈvariegatedness.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 215 Variegatedness, motly, pyed, particoloured, divers colours. |