ROAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does roan mean? 

• ROAN (noun)
  The noun ROAN has 2 senses:

1. a soft sheepskin leather that is colored and finished to resemble morocco; used in bookbinding

2. a horse having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or gray

  Familiarity information: ROAN used as a noun is rare.

• ROAN (adjective)
  The adjective ROAN has 1 sense:

1. (used of especially horses) having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or grey

  Familiarity information: ROAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ROAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A soft sheepskin leather that is colored and finished to resemble morocco; used in bookbinding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("roan" is a kind of...):

leather (an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A horse having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or gray

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("roan" is a kind of...):

Equus caballus; horse (solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times)

Derivation:

roan ((used of especially horses) having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or grey)

• ROAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used of especially horses) having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or grey

Context example:

a roan horse

Similar:

colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)

Derivation:

roan (a horse having a brownish coat thickly sprinkled with white or gray)

 Context examples 

The color is liver and white, spotted, roan or ticked.

(German Wirehaired Pointer, NCI Thesaurus)

The medium-length coat is flat or wavy and feathered, and comes in liver and white, and black and white, blue or liver roan.

(English Springer Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

The muzzle is long, but not pointed, and it has a short, dense coat that comes in solid liver or liver and white, patched, ticked or roan.

(German Shorthaired Pointer, NCI Thesaurus)

Some dogs have tan markings, and some are roan (speckled).

(Field Spaniel, NCI Thesaurus)

As he clattered up, Alleyne could see that the roan horse was gray with dust and flecked with foam, as though it had left many a mile behind it.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)