wattle
UK /ˈwɒtl̩/ · US /ˈwɑtl̩/ noun, verb
Forms wattles wattling wattled
- noun A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof.
- noun A single twig or rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
- noun A wrinkled fold of skin, sometimes brightly coloured, hanging from the neck of birds (such as chicken and turkey) and some lizards.
- noun A barbel of a fish.
- noun A decorative fleshy appendage on the neck of a goat.
- noun Loose hanging skin in the neck of a person.
- noun Any of several Australian trees and shrubs of the genus Acacia, or their bark, used in tanning, seen as a national emblem of Australia.
- noun (slang, obsolete) An ear (organ of hearing).
- verb (transitive) To construct a wattle, or make a construction of wattles.
- verb (transitive) To bind with wattles or twigs.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English wattel, watel, from Old English watel, watul (“hurdle”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods.
- noun A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
- verb To bind with twigs.
- verb To twist or interweave, one with another, as twigs; to form a network with; to plat; as, to wattle branches.
Etymology [AS. watel, watul, watol, hurdle, covering, wattle; cf. OE. watel a bag. Cf. Wallet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wattle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details