wattle

[ wot-l ]
See synonyms for wattle on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Often wattles. a number of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs or tree branches for making fences, walls, etc.

  2. wattles, a number of poles laid on a roof to hold thatch.

  1. (in Australia) any of various acacias whose shoots and branches were used by the early colonists for wattles, now valued especially for their bark, which is used in tanning.

  2. a fleshy lobe or appendage hanging down from the throat or chin of certain birds, as the domestic chicken or turkey.

verb (used with object),wat·tled, wat·tling.
  1. to bind, wall, fence, etc., with wattle or wattles.

  2. to roof or frame with or as if with wattles.

  1. to form into a basketwork; interweave; interlace.

  2. to make or construct by interweaving twigs or branches: to wattle a fence.

adjective
  1. built or roofed with wattle or wattles.

Origin of wattle

1
before 900; (noun) Middle English wattel,Old English watul covering, akin to wætla bandage; (v.) Middle English wattelen, derivative of the noun

Other words from wattle

  • un·wat·tled, adjective

Words Nearby wattle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wattle in a sentence

  • A boy pushed the bracken and ferny grey and green wattle sprays from before a lichen-grown wooden cross.

    The Pioneers | Katharine Susannah Prichard

British Dictionary definitions for wattle (1 of 2)

wattle1

/ (ˈwɒtəl) /


noun
  1. a frame of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs, branches, etc, esp when used to make fences

  2. the material used in such a construction

  1. a loose fold of skin, often brightly coloured, hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds, lizards, etc

  2. any of various chiefly Australian acacia trees having spikes of small brightly coloured flowers and flexible branches, which were used by early settlers for making fences: See also golden wattle

  3. a southern African caesalpinaceous tree, Peltophorum africanum, with yellow flowers

verb(tr)
  1. to construct from wattle

  2. to bind or frame with wattle

  1. to weave or twist (branches, twigs, etc) into a frame

adjective
  1. made of, formed by, or covered with wattle

Origin of wattle

1
Old English watol; related to wethel wrap, Old High German wadal, German Wedel

Derived forms of wattle

  • wattled, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for wattle (2 of 2)

wattle2

/ (ˈwɒtəl) /


adjective
  1. Midland English dialect of poor quality

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012