Often wattles.a number of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs or tree branches for making fences, walls, etc.
wattles,a number of poles laid on a roof to hold thatch.
(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.
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.
to bind, wall, fence, etc., with wattle or wattles.
to roof or frame with or as if with wattles.
to form into a basketwork; interweave; interlace.
to make or construct by interweaving twigs or branches: to wattle a fence.
adjective
built or roofed with wattle or wattles.
Origin of wattle
before 900; (noun) Middle Englishwattel,Old Englishwatul covering, akin to wætla bandage; (v.) Middle Englishwattelen, derivative of the noun
a frame of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs, branches, etc, esp when used to make fences
the material used in such a construction
a loose fold of skin, often brightly coloured, hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds, lizards, etc
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 fencesSee also golden wattle
a southern African caesalpinaceous tree, Peltophorum africanum, with yellow flowers
verb(tr)
to construct from wattle
to bind or frame with wattle
to weave or twist (branches, twigs, etc) into a frame
adjective
made of, formed by, or covered with wattle
Derived Formswattled, adjective
Word Origin for wattle
Old English watol; related to wethel wrap, Old High German wadal, German Wedel
"fleshy appendage below the neck of certain birds," 1510s (extended jocularly to human beings, 1560s), of uncertain origin and of doubtful relationship to wattle (n.1).
n.1
"stakes interlaced with twigs and forming the framework of the wall of a building," Old English watol "hurdle," in plural "twigs, thatching, tiles," related to weðel "bandage," of unknown origin. Surviving in wattle-and-daub "building material for huts, etc." (1808).
