tawny
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: tôʹnē
ipa: /ˈtɔːni/
ipa: /ˈtɔni/
ipa: /ˈtɑ-/
rhymes: -ɔːni
Forms: form: tawnies
form: tawnys
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: Neere to Canuſia, the ſheepe be deepe yellovv or tavvnie; and about Tarentum, they are of a brovvne and duſkiſh colour.
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VIII.] Divers Kinds of Wooll and Clothes.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 227:
text: Despise not my discolour'd look: / This tawny from the sun I took.
ref: 1641, George Sandys, “A Paraphrase upon the Song of Solomon. Canto I.”, in The Poetical Works of George Sandys. […], volume II, London: John Russell Smith, […], published 1872, →OCLC, page 340:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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: […]
ref: 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:
text: 'Gad, if Miss S. will have me, I'm her man. I ain't particular about a shade or so of tawny.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Mr. Osborne Takes Down the Family Bible”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 200:
glosses: A light brown to brownish orange colour.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 1597, Gerard Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh], The Accedence of Armorie, London: […] Henrie Ballard […], →OCLC, folio 116, verso:
text: Tavvny (ſaith Leigh [i.e., Gerard Legh]) is a Colour of vvorſhip, and of ſome Heralds it is called Bruske, and is moſt commonly borne of French Gentlemen, but very fevv doe beare it in England. In Blazon it is knovvne by the name of Tenne. It is (ſaith he) the ſureſt colour that is (of ſo bright a hevv being compounded) for it is made of tvvo bright Colours, vvhich are Red and Yellovv: […]
ref: 1632, John Guillim, “Sect[ion] I. Chap[ter] III.”, in A Display of Heraldrie: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Badger for Ralph Mab, →OCLC, page 21:
text: Tenne, vvhich is the tavvny or Orange colour, is marked by diagonal lines dravvn from the Siniſter to the Dexter ſide of the Shield, traverſed by perpendicular lines from the Chief; […]
ref: 1765, Mark Anthony Porny [pseudonym; Antoine Pyron du Martre], “Of the Essential and Integral Parts of Arms. Article II. Of the Tinctures.”, in The Elements of Heraldry, […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, section I (Of Colours), page 17:
text: Some heraldic writers extend the number of tinctures to seven, by the addition of sanguine or murrey, dark blood or mulberry-colour, and tenné, tawny, or orange-colour; while others who admit them into the catalogue declare them, at the same time, to be stainant, or disgraceful; but, as I have stated in my notice of Abatements (p. 171), it is very improbable any one would bear arms so degraded; and the strongest proof that no such opinion with respect to these two colours existed in the days of chivalry is, that the livery colours of the house of York were murrey and blue, and that tawny was apparently much affected by the retainers of the nobility and Church dignitaries.
ref: 1859 April, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Appendix”, in The Pursuivant of Arms; or, Heraldry Founded upon Facts. […], new edition, London: Robert Hardwicke, […], →OCLC, page 209:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: A light brown to brownish orange colour.
Synonym of tenné (“a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown”).
hyponyms: dragon's head
synonyms: word: tenné
extra: a rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown
examples: text: Iohn VVittie his great tavvny Gilloflovver is for forme of grovving, in leafe and flovver altogether like vnto the ordinary tavvny, the flovver onely, becauſe it is the faireſt and greateſt that any other hath nourſed vp, maketh the difference, as alſo that it is of a faire deepe ſcarlet colour. There are alſo diuers other Tavvnies, either lighter or ſadder, either leſſe or more double, that they cannot be numbered, and all riſing (as I ſaid before) from ſovving the ſeede of ſome of them: […]
ref: 1629, John Parkinson, “Caryophyllus hortensus. Carnations and Gilloflowers.”, in Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris. […], London: […] Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng […], →OCLC, pages 311–312:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
examples: text: TAWNY. A bullfinch. Somerset.
ref: [1847, James Orchard Halliwell, “TAWNY”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. […], volume II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 854, column 1:
glosses: Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
The common bullfinch or Eurasian bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula).
qualifier: Somerset
examples: text: 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 aren't always worth the extra bucks.
ref: 2006, Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan, “Wine Roads Less Traveled: Fortified and Dessert Wines”, in Wine for Dummies (For Dummies), 4th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, part V (Wine’s Exotic Face), page 297:
text: 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.
ref: 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, →ISBN, page 110:
qualifier: alcoholic beverages
glosses: In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: You ſhall doe well to ſend ſuch ſorts [of clothes] as be liuely to the ſight, and ſome blackes for womens garments, with ſome Orenge colours and tawneis.
ref: 1566 August 18 (Gregorian calendar), Arthur Edwards, “A Letter of M. Arthur Edwards, Written the 8. of August 1566. from the Towne of Shamakie in Media, to the Right Worshipfull the Gouernours, Consuls, Assistants, and Generalitie of the Companie of Rusia, &c. Shewing His Accesse vnto the Emperour of Persia, […]”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], published 1589, →OCLC, page 380:
glosses: A fabric of a light brown to brownish orange colour.
examples: text: The Tavvnies among vvhom vve came, have VVatered our Soyl, vvith the Blood, of many Hundred of our Inhabitants.
ref: 1692 (indicated as 1693), Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World. Observations as well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils. […], Boston, Mass.: […] Benjamin Harris, →OCLC, page 42:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
qualifier: probably derogatory
glosses: A person with skin of a brown colour.
glosses: Tawny frogmouth.
glosses: Tawny owl.
Derived terms: english: clothes made of tawny-coloured fabric
translation: clothes made of tawny-coloured fabric
word: tawnies