The last of the line, Cap, a brindle mongrel who looked like a worn carpet-bag, caught the secret of vitality from his indomitable mistress and lived to be sixteen, when Aunt Margery, with heavy heart but steady hand, administered the ether that put a merciful end to the miserable burden of his years. —James Thurber, 1952, 'Daguerreotype of a Lady', in The Thurber Album
adj. = brindled
The last of the line, Cap, a brindle mongrel who looked like a worn carpet-bag, caught the secret of vitality from his indomitable mistress and lived to be sixteen, when Aunt Margery, with heavy heart but steady hand, administered the ether that put a merciful end to the miserable burden of his years.
—James Thurber, 1952, 'Daguerreotype of a Lady', in The Thurber Album