motley

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), late 14th c., from Old English mot (“speck”), cognate with mote.

motley (comparative more motley, superlative most motley)

1. Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity; heterogeneous.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0147:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

2. Having many colours; variegated.

• (comprising greatly varied elements): diverse, manifold; see also Thesaurus:heterogeneous
• (having many colours): colorful, prismatic, variegated; see also Thesaurus:multicolored

• motley crew

motley (plural motleys)

1. An incongruous mixture.
2. A jester's multicoloured clothes.
3. (by extension) A jester; a fool.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, III. iii. 71:

     Will you be married, motley?

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 110:

     Alas, 'tis true, I have gone here and there, / And made myself a motley to the view,