| mottle | Fine inhomogeneity of an area of generally uniform opacity on a photograph or radiograph; noise. Origin: fr. Motley, fr. M.E. Mot, speck (05 Mar 2000) |
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| mottled | Marked with spots of different colours; variegated; spotted; as, mottled wood. "The mottled meadows." Origin: From Motley. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mottled enamel | Alterations in enamel structure due to excessive fluoride ingestion during tooth formation; varies in appearance from small white opacities to yellow and black spotting. Nanoid enamel, a condition of abnormal thinness of the enamel. Synonym: dwarfed enamel. Whorled enamel, enamel in which the rods assume a spiral or twisting course. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mottles | <botany> Spots or blotches of different colour or shades of colour interspersed within the dominant matrix colour in a soil layer. Distinct mottles are readily seen and easily distinguished from the colour of the matrix, prominent mottles are obvious and mottling is one of the outstanding features of the horizon. (09 Oct 1997) |
| quantum mottle | Mottle caused by the statistical fluctuation of the number of photons absorbed by the intensifying screens to form the light image on the film; faster screens produce more quantum mottle. (05 Mar 2000) |
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