wattle

American  

[wot-l] / ˈwɒt l /

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.

3. (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.

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

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verb (used with object)

wattled, wattling

1. to bind, wall, fence, etc., with wattle or wattles.

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

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

4. to make or construct by interweaving twigs or branches.

   to wattle a fence.

adjective

1. built or roofed with wattle or wattles.

wattle ¹ British  

/ 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

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

4. 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

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

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verb

1. to construct from wattle

2. to bind or frame with wattle

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

adjective

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

wattle ² British  

/ ˈwɒtəl /

adjective

1. dialect of poor quality

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Other Word Forms

• unwattled
  adjective
• wattled
  adjective

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

Example Sentences

“It’s like an exotic animal when you see it in the wild,” Wattle said of California asparagus at mainstream California supermarkets.

From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2024

By the time heavy rain extinguished it after 75 days, the Green Wattle Creek fire had burned through 278,000 hectares, killed countless animals and destroyed 37 homes.

From BBC • Sep. 19, 2023

Among their gruff voices, the grunts of a large, black hog — a Red Wattle cross — could be heard from a nearby trailer.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2022

Simec Coal Tahmoor, bought by Gupta’s GFC Alliance in 2018, was evacuated on Thursday as the Green Wattle Creek fire approached Bargo.

From The Guardian • Dec. 23, 2019

The cook, a trow named Wattle, ignores me and continues magicking the parsnips to chop themselves.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black