merle

¹

or merl

[ murl ]

noun

, Chiefly Scot.

1. the blackbird, Turdus merula.

merle

²

[ murl ]

noun

1. a bluish gray color mottled with black.

adjective

1. being the color merle.

Merle

³

[ murl ]

noun

1. a male or female given name.

merle

¹

/ mɜːl; mɛrl /

noun

1. See blackbird
   another name for the (European) blackbird

merle

²

/ mɜːl /

adjective

1. (of a dog, esp a collie) having a bluish-grey coat with speckles or streaks of black Often calledblue merle

Word History and Origins

Origin of merle¹

1350–1400; Middle English merule < Middle French < Latin merulus, merula ousel, blackbird

Origin of merle²

First recorded in 1900–05; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of merle¹

C15: via Old French from Latin merula

Origin of merle²

C20: from dialect mirlet, mirly speckled

Example Sentences

Built by the four Patenaude brothers on 200 acres of mountain they bought from their father, Merle, the ski area had opened only 13 years before.

From Washington Post

This is just sheer fantasy or nightmare, I’m not sure which, but it would be Merle.

From Washington Post

The stars kept coming: Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Merle Oberon.

From The Daily Beast

Ultimately, that included Andrea, Milton, Merle, and all but one of the adult, able-bodied residents of Woodbury.

From The Daily Beast

And, perhaps most heartbreakingly, Merle died trying to take out the Governor on his own.

From The Daily Beast

I realize now that this story was a major influence on the Merle Zane character in the Niceville series.

From The Daily Beast

You hear it in Hank Williams Sr., Merle Haggard, early Dolly Parton, and you hear it in George Jones.

From The Daily Beast

Merle glanced up to see him despoiling a bush that embowered one of the brown headstones and an all but obliterated mound.

From Project Gutenberg

It was Wilbur's, but Merle quite naturally took it from him and assumed charge of the ensuing operation.

From Project Gutenberg

As Merle demonstrated the problem in hydraulics the girl studied him more attentively, then gleamed with a sudden new radiance.

From Project Gutenberg

The Merle twin never smoked for two famous Puritan reasons—it was wrong for boys to smoke and it made him sick.

From Project Gutenberg

The quick-thinking Merle twin had by now devised an exit from any complicity in whatever was meant.

From Project Gutenberg