Friday, March 13, 2009

Pied -- the piper wore multicolored attire

from www.wordsmith.org

pied (rhymes with pride)

adjective: Having patches of two or more colors; multicolored.

ETYMOLOGY: From pie (magpie), referring to a magpie's black and white plumage, from Latin pica (jay or magpie). The Pied Piper of legend owes his moniker to his multicolored attire.

USAGE: "The pair of women came first, one strangely dressed, in pied clothes of three or four eras."Michael Chabon; The Mysteries of Pittsburgh; William Morrow; 1988.

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