Tawny

/ˈtɔːni/ · adjective

Meaning

Of a light brown to brownish orange colour; orangey brown tinged with gold..

Definitions by Sense

1. Of a light brown to brownish orange colour; orangey brown tinged with gold.
2. (transitive) To cause (someone or something) to have a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
3. (intransitive) To become a light brown to brownish orange colour; to tan, to tawn.
4. A light brown to brownish orange colour.
5. Something of a light brown or brownish orange colour (particularly if it has the word tawny in its name).
6. (alcoholic beverages) In full tawny port: a sweet, fortified port wine which is blended and matured in wooden casks.
7. A fabric of a light brown to brownish orange colour.
8. A person with skin of a brown colour.

Example Sentences

And if any of your nation attempte once to ſtoppe me in my iorney now towards Calais, […] I in my defence ſhall colour and make red your tawny ground with the effuſion of chriſtian bloud: […]

The VVooſell cock, ſo blacke of hevve, / VVith Orange tavvny bill, / The Throſtle, vvith his note ſo true, / The VVren, vvith little quill.

Come, vve muſt haue you turne Fiddler againe, ſlaue, 'get a Baſe Violin at your backe, and march in a Tavvnie Coate, vvith one ſleeue, to Gooſe-faire, and then you'll knovve vs; […]

To the Queen he gave […] a ſmall Box full of large Needles; then he gave her ſome courſe brovvn Thread, and ſhovv'd her hovv to thred the Needle and ſovv any Thing together vvith the Thread; all vvhich ſhe admired exceedingly, and call'd her Tavvny Maids of Honour about her, that they might learn alſo.

[T]he vvatch-dogs and aſſembled ſvvains / Have driv'n a tavvny lion from the ſtalls, […]

[T]he head waiter inquired with respectful solicitude whether that port, being a light and tawny wine, was suited to his taste, or whether he would wish to try a fruity port with greater body.

[P]erhaps they metamorphose themselves into a tawny squirrel that scampers away and mocks you from the topmost bough.

There were the tawny rocks, like lions couchant, defying the ocean, whose waves incessantly dashed against and scoured them with vast quantities of gravel.

Synonyms for tawny

Antonyms for tawny

Related Words

Word Forms

• tawnier
• tawniest
• tawney
• tawnies
• tawnying
• tawnied
• tawnys

Usage Notes

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