tawny

Etymology 1

The adjective is derived from Middle English tauni, tawne (“having a brownish-orange colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman taune, tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“of a tan colour”), an adjective use of the past participle of taner (“to turn hide into leather, tan”), from tan (“pulped oak bark used to tan leather, tanbark”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *tannos (“green oak”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)dʰnwos, *(s)dʰonu (“fir”). The -aw- spelling (also -au- in Middle English) seems to have been due to the pronunciation of Old French tané. The verb is derived from the adjective. cognates * Breton tann * Medieval Latin tannāre (“to dye a tawny color; to tan”) * Old Irish caerthann (“rowan”)

adj

1. Of a light brown to brownish orange colour.
   I never thought I'd meet a girl like you / With auburn hair and tawny eyes 1982 March, Frank Maudsley, Paul Reynolds, Ali Score, Mike Score (lyrics and music), “I Ran (So Far Away)”, in A Flock of Seagulls, performed by A Flock of Seagulls
   Dio Cassius, writing more than one hundred years after the event, described Boudicca as 'very tall, in appearance most terrifying … the glance of her eye most fierce, her voice harsh … a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips'. 2001, John Cannon, Anne Hargreaves, “Romano-British Rulers”, in The Kings & Queens of Britain, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, page 13
   ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWK Chordeiles gundlachii […] Somewhat tawnier and smaller than Common Nighthawk, but readily distinguished from it only by call. 2019, Roger Tory Peterson, Michael DiGiorgio, Paul Lehman, Peter Pyle, Larry Rosche, “Owls and Nightjars”, in Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America (Peterson Field Guides), 2nd edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 230

verb

1. (transitive) To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
   The General stares into the sandstorm churned up by all that movement. Like a curtain draped across the world, tawnying the October sky. 2017, Nathan Englander, “2014, Limbo”, in Dinner at the Centre of the Earth, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf
2. (intransitive) To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
   The countenance alone bespoke the years and the cares of John M‘Whirter. The deep wrinkled brow—the cheek plaited, and tawnied in the sun and the frosts of the north— […] 1825, chapter XI, in The Abduction; or, The Adventures of Major Sarney: A Story of the Times of Charles the Second.[…], volume II, London: […] [William Clowes] for Charles Knight,[…], →OCLC, page 249
   In his drowse it all turned gleaming and mixing in him, his whole life, like the river gleaming taut between the trees. And everything that had ever happened to him tawnied over by the voluptuous light of the last fall, and his mouth watered for it all. 1990, Meridel Le Sueur, “Gone Home”, in Elaine Hedges, editor, Ripening: Selected Work, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, page 215
   [C]olheita is actually a tawny Port from a single vintage. In other words, it has aged (and softened and tawnied) in wood for many years. 2019, Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, “Wine Roads Less Traveled: Fortified and Dessert Wines”, in Wine for Dummies (For Dummies), 7th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, part 5 (Wine’s Exotic Face), page 318

Etymology 2

From Middle English tauni, tawne (“brownish-orange colour; cloth of this colour; sweet beverage of this colour”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman tawné, and Old French tané, tanné, tanney (“tan colour; cloth of this colour”), from tané (verb): see further at etymology 1. Sense 2.1 (“Eurasian bullfinch”) is due to the brown colour of the female.

noun

1. A light brown to brownish orange colour.
   tawny:
   From the follovving Dye are Compoſed the beſt Tavvnies, Grey and Crimſon Goat Colours. […] The Silk muſt be put in vvhen the Suds are cold, for the colder the Suds, the blevver the Violet Colour, vvhich muſt alvvays be blevver than the Tavvnies. 1705, “Part I. Of Silk Dying.”, in [anonymous], transl., The Whole Art of Dying.[…], London: […] William Pearson, and sold by J[ohn] Nutt,[…], →OCLC, page 14
   And thus by varying the Colours you ſhall produce all ſorts of mixtures: So black and vvhite variouſly mixed make a vaſt Company of deep and light Greys, Bleus and Yellovvs, many Greens; Red and Yellovv Orange Tavvnies, […] the more the Red the deeper the Orange Tavvnies, and ſo forth; and thus muſt they in your VVork be ſhaded and heightened vvith Colours of their ovvn Affinity: […] 1720, Tho[mas] Page, Junior, “The Materials of Painting, Describing the Chief Colours to be Used;[…]”, in The Art of Painting in Its Rudiment, Progress, and Perfection:[…], Norwich, Norfolk: […],[…], →OCLC, pages 48–49
   1. (specifically, heraldry) Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”)
      [T]he Herehaught [herald] muſt have a ſinguler reſpect to the face of him that ſhould haue the Armes, vvhere he ſhal vvel perceiue in vvhat ſeaſõ of the yere, his ovvn complexion vvill ſerue him to do beſt ſeruice in: […] If in Somer, either a Hound or Salamandra, or ſome part of them, of the colour Bruske, vvhich is betvveene Geules and tavvney. 1597, Gerard Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh], The Accedence of Armorie, London: […] Henrie Ballard[…], →OCLC, folio 116, verso
2. Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
   The Tawny Owl may easily be induced, under favourable conditions, to take up its quarters near the houses of men. The writer is familiar with a pair of Tawnies which have nested for many years in one of several covered-in boxes fitted up in the trees that overhang the shrubberies in the grounds. […] There are other Tawnies in the woods and parks about, but this pair are the lords of their own district, for like all birds of prey they require a large area for their hunt for food. 1895, Aubyn Trevor-Battye, “March. Our Birds of Prey.”, in Oswald Crawfurd, editor, A Year of Sport and Natural History: Shooting, Hunting, Coursing, Falconry and Fishing[…], London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, section I (The Owls), page 67
   1. (Somerset) The common bullfinch or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).
3. (alcoholic beverages) In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks.
   A ten-year-old tawny is a good place to start with a tawny port novice, who might otherwise be put off by the oxidized flavors (i.e., more wood and earth notes than fruit) that come with a very old tawny. 2007, Lettie Teague, “Portugal”, in Educating Peter: How I Taught a Famous Movie Critic the Difference between Cabernet and Merlot or How Anyone Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert, New York, N.Y., London: Scribner, page 110
   Tawny is the most versatile Port style. The best tawnies are good-quality wines that have faded to a pale garnet or brownish red color during long wood aging. […] We consider 10- and 20-year old tawnies the best buys; the older ones, for us, aren't always worth the extra bucks. 2019, Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, “Wine Roads Less Traveled: Fortified and Dessert Wines”, in Wine for Dummies (For Dummies), 7th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, part 5 (Wine’s Exotic Face), page 318
4. (obsolete)
   1. A fabric of a light brown to brownish orange colour.
      [N]o perſone, or perſones, occupiyng the ſeate of diẽg, ſhal die, or altre into colours, or cauſe to be died, or altred into colours, any wollen clothes, as broune blewes, pieukes, tawnies, or violettes, except the ſame wollẽ clothes be perfeictly boiled, greined or madered vpon the woade, & ſhot with good, and ſufficient corke, or orchal after a due, ſubſtancial, & ſufficient maner of workemanſhip, according to thauncient workmanſhip in time paſt vſed, vpõ peine for euery defalt to forfeite .xx. s̃. 1553, “The Seconde Chapitre. An Acte for the True Making of Woullen Clothes.”, in Anno III. & IIII. Edwardi Sexti. Actes Made in the Session of This Present Parlament, Holden vpon Prorogation at Westminster, the. IIII Daie of Nouembre, in the Third Yere of the Reigne of Our Most Dread Souuereine Lord Edward the. VI[…], London: […] Rychard Grafton, printer to the Kinges Maiestie, →OCLC, folio iiij, recto
   2. (probably derogatory) A person with skin of a brown colour.
      Senegal ſeparates the Azoaghes, Moors or Tavvnies, from the real Blacks; ſo that on one ſide of the River are the Moors of a Tavvny Complexion, and the other is Inhabited by People that are perfectly Black. 1696, [Jacques-Joseph] Le Maire, A Voyage of the Sieur Le Maire to the Canary Islands, Cape-Verd, Senegal and Gamby, under Monsieur Dancourt, Director-General of the Royal African Company.[…], London: […] F. Mills and W. Turner,[…], →OCLC, page 47
      Upon our arrival at Morocco, vve found the vvhole kingdom a ſcene of blood and confuſion. Fifty ſons of the emperor Muley-Iſhmael had each their adherents: this produced fifty civil vvars of blacks againſt blacks, of tavvnies againſt tavvnies, and of mulattoes againſt mulattoes. 1759, Voltaire [pseudonym; François-Marie Arouet], “History of the Old Woman”, in [anonymous], transl., Candid: Or, All for the Best.[…], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] Nourse[…], →OCLC, page 37
5. Tawny frogmouth.
6. Tawny owl.