A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1549-1590
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Motlay(e, a. [ME. and e.m.E. mottelay (1388), motteley (1390–1), motle(e, -ley, -ly (14–15th c.), etc., of doubtful origin.] Motley, parti-coloured, variegated. (Only in verse, applied to landscape, trees, etc.: the corresp. noun is similarly used by Lydgate etc.) — a 1550 Misc. Spald. C. II. xxix.
Hawthorne had lost his motlay luverye c1590 Fowler I. 340/53.
The wenches spoyle the motlaye grounde And primrose garlandes plett
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"Motlay adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/motlaye>
