wattle
Americannoun
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Often wattles. a number of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs or tree branches for making fences, walls, etc.
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wattles, a number of poles laid on a roof to hold thatch.
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(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.
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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)
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to bind, wall, fence, etc., with wattle or wattles.
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to roof or frame with or as if with wattles.
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to form into a basketwork; interweave; interlace.
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to make or construct by interweaving twigs or branches.
to wattle a fence.
adjective
noun
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a frame of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs, branches, etc, esp when used to make fences
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the material used in such a construction
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a loose fold of skin, often brightly coloured, hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds, lizards, etc
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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
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a southern African caesalpinaceous tree, Peltophorum africanum, with yellow flowers
verb
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to construct from wattle
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to bind or frame with wattle
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to weave or twist (branches, twigs, etc) into a frame
adjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wattlesimple
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wattlessimple
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have wattledperfect
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has wattledperfect
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am wattlingprogressive
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are wattlingprogressive
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is wattlingprogressive
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have been wattlingperfect progressive
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has been wattlingperfect progressive
Past
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wattledsimple
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had wattledperfect
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was wattlingprogressive
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were wattlingprogressive
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had been wattlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wattle
before 900; (noun) Middle English wattel, Old English watul covering, akin to wætla bandage; (v.) Middle English wattelen, derivative of the noun
Vocabulary lists containing wattle
Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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Animals (Zoology) - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The logo depicted a red tulip and a golden wattle - the national flowers of Australia and Afghanistan - entwined around a cricket ball.
From BBC • Feb. 11, 2025
In comparison, carbon-capture plantations are usually monocultures and are dominated globally by just five tree species -- teak, mahogany, cedar, silk oak, and black wattle -- that are grown for timber, pulp, or agroforestry.
From Science Daily • Oct. 3, 2023
The seasonal link between, say, a wattle flowering and the arrival of fish species is breaking down.
From Salon • Nov. 28, 2022
Other species making use of color for courtship include the fan-throated lizard, with a wattle of iridescent blue and orange, and the Siamese fighting fish, its tail bristling with blood-orange finnage.
From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2020
Every house was roofed with thatch, and had walls of wattle and daub.
From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
