wattle

[ wot-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.

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.
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

/ 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. See golden wattle
   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

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

/ ˈwɒtəl /

adjective

1. dialect.
   of poor quality

Derived Forms

• ˈwattled, adjective

Other Words From

• un·wattled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wattle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wattle¹

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

Example Sentences

Your value increases every year and for developing neck wattles that comfort small granddaughters.

From Time

Very little of the earlier buildings remained, as they all appear to have been built of wood and wattle-and-daub.

From Project Gutenberg

As for "wattle and daub" I could wish that it had never been invented.

From Project Gutenberg

I skulked in the scrub as he came up—just behind a clump of wattle.

From Project Gutenberg

The first man was formed out of the gum of a wattle-tree, and came out of the knot of a wattle-tree.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg