See motley crew on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From motley + crew. Originally used to refer to the crews of 17th- and 18th-century ships, which contained men of many different nationalities.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "motley crews",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "motley crew (plural motley crews)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"mot‧ley"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
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},
{
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
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"kind": "other",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Welsh translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1830, John Carne, “Arab Chief—Syrian Physician—Adventures of a London Merchant”, in Recollections of Travels in the East; […], London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 100:",
"text": "Away they marched from the rocky region and miserable village where they were posted, a motley crew of Christians and Infidels, Catholics, Greeks, and adorers of the Prophet, all mingled together, to go and attack the holy city, and compel the governor to come to their terms, and supply them with provisions.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1858, Dan King, “Indian Medicine”, in Quackery Unmasked: Or A Consideration of the Most Prominent Empirical Schemes of the Present Time, […], Boston, Mass.: […] David Clapp, →OCLC, page 223:",
"text": "The honest Indian scorns all these schemes, and is never found among the motley crew of Indian doctors. It is made up not of genuine Indians, but of negroes, mulattoes, and, meanest of all, some white men, who have stolen the Indian livery for their own unhallowed purposes.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1893 June, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Green Flag”, in The Green Flag and Other Stories of War and Sport (Bell’s Indian and Colonial Library), London, Bombay, Maharashtra: George Bell & Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 8:",
"text": "Along the edge of this position lay the Arab host, a motley crew of shock-headed desert clansmen, fierce predatory slave-dealers of the interior, and wild dervishes from the Upper Nile, all blent together by their common fearlessness and fanaticism.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1894, Arthur Clark Kennedy, “She Walked through Fire”, in Erotica, London: Gay and Bird, →OCLC, page 45:",
"text": "Spotless amid a motley crew / She passed the fiery ordeal through / Unhurt, begirt as with a fence / Of innocence.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Allen Chapman, “Ralph of the Roundhouse: Or Bound to Become a Railroad Man. Chapter XIX: Ike Slump’s Friends”, in Ralph on the Railroad: […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published [1910], →OCLC, page 163:",
"text": "No one responded to the offer. A little dirty-faced urchin, who looked unhappy and out of place with that motley crew, looked longingly at Ralph. […] \"Hold on, mister, back up—I want to tell you something!\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2022 August 5, Bernd Debusmann Jr., “Obituary: Gary Schroen, the CIA spy sent to get Osama Bin Laden”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2023-03-15:",
"text": "Within days, [Gary] Schroen and a motley crew of paramilitary officers became the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan, armed with little more than satellite phones – but also millions of dollars in cash to curry favour with potential allies.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal."
],
"id": "en-motley_crew-en-noun-m7hjiKtO",
"links": [
[
"group",
"group#Noun"
],
[
"people",
"person#Noun"
],
[
"mixed",
"mixed#Adjective"
],
[
"background",
"background#Noun"
],
[
"common",
"common#Adjective"
],
[
"goal",
"goal#Noun"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "melting pot"
},
{
"word": "Mötley Crüe"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "nesourodá skupina"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "každý pes jiná ves"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "sekalainen sakki"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "canagliume"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "šárena drúžina",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ша́рена дру́жина"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "mešávina",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "меша́вина"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "zbieranina"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sbórnaja soljánka",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "сбо́рная соля́нка"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "šarena družba"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "criw brith"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Dictionary.com"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌmɒtli ˈkɹuː/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-motley crew.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav.mp3",
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},
{
"ipa": "/ˌmɑtli ˈkɹu/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-uː"
}
],
"word": "motley crew"
}
{
"etymology_text": "From motley + crew. Originally used to refer to the crews of 17th- and 18th-century ships, which contained men of many different nationalities.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "motley crews",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "motley crew (plural motley crews)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"mot‧ley"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "melting pot"
},
{
"word": "Mötley Crüe"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/uː",
"Rhymes:English/uː/3 syllables",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Macedonian translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations",
"Terms with Welsh translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1830, John Carne, “Arab Chief—Syrian Physician—Adventures of a London Merchant”, in Recollections of Travels in the East; […], London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 100:",
"text": "Away they marched from the rocky region and miserable village where they were posted, a motley crew of Christians and Infidels, Catholics, Greeks, and adorers of the Prophet, all mingled together, to go and attack the holy city, and compel the governor to come to their terms, and supply them with provisions.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1858, Dan King, “Indian Medicine”, in Quackery Unmasked: Or A Consideration of the Most Prominent Empirical Schemes of the Present Time, […], Boston, Mass.: […] David Clapp, →OCLC, page 223:",
"text": "The honest Indian scorns all these schemes, and is never found among the motley crew of Indian doctors. It is made up not of genuine Indians, but of negroes, mulattoes, and, meanest of all, some white men, who have stolen the Indian livery for their own unhallowed purposes.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1893 June, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Green Flag”, in The Green Flag and Other Stories of War and Sport (Bell’s Indian and Colonial Library), London, Bombay, Maharashtra: George Bell & Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 8:",
"text": "Along the edge of this position lay the Arab host, a motley crew of shock-headed desert clansmen, fierce predatory slave-dealers of the interior, and wild dervishes from the Upper Nile, all blent together by their common fearlessness and fanaticism.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1894, Arthur Clark Kennedy, “She Walked through Fire”, in Erotica, London: Gay and Bird, →OCLC, page 45:",
"text": "Spotless amid a motley crew / She passed the fiery ordeal through / Unhurt, begirt as with a fence / Of innocence.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, Allen Chapman, “Ralph of the Roundhouse: Or Bound to Become a Railroad Man. Chapter XIX: Ike Slump’s Friends”, in Ralph on the Railroad: […], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, published [1910], →OCLC, page 163:",
"text": "No one responded to the offer. A little dirty-faced urchin, who looked unhappy and out of place with that motley crew, looked longingly at Ralph. […] \"Hold on, mister, back up—I want to tell you something!\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2022 August 5, Bernd Debusmann Jr., “Obituary: Gary Schroen, the CIA spy sent to get Osama Bin Laden”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2023-03-15:",
"text": "Within days, [Gary] Schroen and a motley crew of paramilitary officers became the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan, armed with little more than satellite phones – but also millions of dollars in cash to curry favour with potential allies.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal."
],
"links": [
[
"group",
"group#Noun"
],
[
"people",
"person#Noun"
],
[
"mixed",
"mixed#Adjective"
],
[
"background",
"background#Noun"
],
[
"common",
"common#Adjective"
],
[
"goal",
"goal#Noun"
]
],
"wikipedia": [
"Dictionary.com"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˌmɒtli ˈkɹuː/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-motley crew.wav",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3e/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-motley_crew.wav.ogg"
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌmɑtli ˈkɹu/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"rhymes": "-uː"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "nesourodá skupina"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "každý pes jiná ves"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"word": "sekalainen sakki"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "canagliume"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "šárena drúžina",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "ша́рена дру́жина"
},
{
"code": "mk",
"lang": "Macedonian",
"roman": "mešávina",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "меша́вина"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "zbieranina"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "sbórnaja soljánka",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "сбо́рная соля́нка"
},
{
"code": "sh",
"lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "šarena družba"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "criw brith"
}
],
"word": "motley crew"
}
Download raw JSONL data for motley crew meaning in All languages combined (6.4kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (db0bec0 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.