Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

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Noun.

(Engraving)

A mode of execution which produces the effect by dots or small points instead of lines.

(Paint.)

A mode of execution in which a flat or even tint is produced by many small touches.

ppr.

Engraving with dots.

Noun.

A mode of engraving on copper by means of dots.

stippling

stippling ‎(plural stipplings)

A stippled pattern.
- 2009 August 17, Francis X. Clines, “What’s That Weird Purple Thing?”, in New York Times:
  There is a rich celebration of city-tough plants deliberately carried over from the days when the abandoned High Line bloomed untended with wild stipplings of red sumac, smoke bush, milkweed, echinacea and other self-seeding invaders.

a pattern