All 8 Uses of
motley
in
As You Like It
- —I met a fool i' the forest, A motley fool;—a miserable world!†
Scene 2.6 *
- —As I do live by food, I met a fool, Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun, And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms, In good set terms,—and yet a motley fool.†
Scene 2.6
- When I did hear The motley fool thus moral on the time, My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, That fools should be so deep contemplative; And I did laugh sans intermission An hour by his dial.†
Scene 2.6
- —Motley's the only wear.†
Scene 2.6
- I am ambitious for a motley coat.†
Scene 2.6
- Invest me in my motley; give me leave To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of the infected world, If they will patiently receive my medicine.†
Scene 2.6
- Will you be married, motley?†
Scene 3.3
- This is the motley-minded gentleman that I have so often met in the forest: he hath been a courtier, he swears.†
Scene 5.4
Definitions:
-
(1)
(motley) consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds of a thing -- sometimes implying that the collection does not go well together and is of low quality
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, motley can refer specifically to different colors.
Much more rarely (though commonly in classic literature) motley references a multicolored woolen fabric woven of mixed threads in 14th to 17th century England; or to a court jester's costume made of such fabric. This sense of the word is still reasonably common in the expression motley fool which refers to a jester in such garb.