brindle

Etymology

Back-formation from brindled, a variant of brinded (“streaked, spotted”), apparently reanalyzed as brindle + -ed. Attested from the late seventeenth century.

noun

1. A streaky colouration in animals.
2. An animal so coloured.
   I snatch at the puppy closest to me, the brindle, which is limp in my hand, and shove it down my shirt. 2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 235

adj

1. Having such a colouration; brindled.
   It is brindle. Stripes of black and brown ride its ribs like a zebra’s. 2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 18

verb

1. To form streaks of a different color.
   Sorely too as I laboured and toiled, the reward of toil would not come ; already my back began to curve, and my hair to brindle itself with gray, yet I saw no luck before me. 1841, The Metropolitan - Volume 30, page 226
   It is the perfect opposition of dark and light that brindles the tiger with gold flame and dark flame. 1925, D.H. Lawrence, Reflections on the Death of Porcupine and Other Essays
   The darkest areas (the points) may brindle or become bleached by brilliant sunlight, especially in chocolate and white points. 1993, Peter Warner, Perfect Cats, page 78