Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bind, wall, fence, or otherwise fit with wattles.
  • To form by interweaving twigs or branches: as, to wattle a fence.
  • To interweave; interlace; form into basket-work or network.
  • To switch; beat.
  • noun A framework made of interwoven rods or twigs; a hurdle. See hurdle.
  • noun A rod; a wand; a switch; a twig.
  • noun A basket; a bag or wallet.
  • noun In ornithology, a fleshy lobe hanging from the front of the head; specifically, such a lobe of the domestic hen, or a like formation of any bird.
  • noun A flap of skin forming a sort of dewlap on each side of the neck of some domestic swine.
  • noun In ichthyology, a fleshy excrescence about the mouth; a barbel.
  • noun One of various Australian and Tasmanian acacias, valued to some extent for their wood and for their gum, but more for their bark, which is rich in tannin.
  • noun In heraldry, a wattle or dewlap used in a bearing. Compare wattled.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To bind with twigs.
  • transitive verb To twist or interweave, one with another, as twigs; to form a network with; to plat.
  • transitive verb To form, by interweaving or platting twigs.
  • noun A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods.
  • noun A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
  • noun A naked fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored, process of the skin hanging from the chin or throat of a bird or reptile.
  • noun Barbel of a fish.
  • noun The astringent bark of several Australian trees of the genus Acacia, used in tanning; -- called also wattle bark.
  • noun Material consisting of wattled twigs, withes, etc., used for walls, fences, and the like.
  • noun (Bot.) In Australasia, any tree of the genus Acacia; -- so called from the wattles, or hurdles, which the early settlers made of the long, pliable branches or of the split stems of the slender species. The bark of such trees is also called wattle. See also Savanna wattle, under Savanna.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Same as Brush turkey.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof.
  • noun A wrinkled fold of skin, sometimes brightly coloured, hanging from the neck of birds (such as chicken and turkey) and some lizards.
  • noun A decorative fleshy appendage on the neck of a goat.
  • noun Loose hanging skin in the neck of a person.
  • noun Any of several Australian trees and shrubs of the genus Acacia.
  • verb transitive To construct a wattle, or make a construction of wattles.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various Australasian trees yielding slender poles suitable for wattle
  • noun a fleshy wrinkled and often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds (chickens and turkeys) or lizards
  • verb interlace to form wattle
  • verb build of or with wattle
  • noun framework consisting of stakes interwoven with branches to form a fence

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Those marks on my face are wrinkles, and that thing under my chin is called a wattle, which is only going to hang lower in years to come.

    You've got to be kidding. Angry Professor 2005

  • Those marks on my face are wrinkles, and that thing under my chin is called a wattle, which is only going to hang lower in years to come.

    Archive 2005-10-01 Angry Professor 2005

  • A wattle is the bit of flesh below a rooster’s beak.

    Why Roosters Have Wattles 2009

  • The wattle was a framework of woven withes covered by layers of daub consisting of clay, lime, horsehair, and cow dung.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • To make the open frames livable buildings, carpenters and masons in other European countries and the British Isles commonly filled in between the timbers with bricks, plaster, or a plaster-and-stick composite called wattle and daub.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • To make the open frames livable buildings, carpenters and masons in other European countries and the British Isles commonly filled in between the timbers with bricks, plaster, or a plaster-and-stick composite called wattle and daub.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • The wattle was a framework of woven withes covered by layers of daub consisting of clay, lime, horsehair, and cow dung.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • To make the open frames livable buildings, carpenters and masons in other European countries and the British Isles commonly filled in between the timbers with bricks, plaster, or a plaster-and-stick composite called wattle and daub.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • To make the open frames livable buildings, carpenters and masons in other European countries and the British Isles commonly filled in between the timbers with bricks, plaster, or a plaster-and-stick composite called wattle and daub.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

  • The wattle was a framework of woven withes covered by layers of daub consisting of clay, lime, horsehair, and cow dung.

    BUILDING THE TIMBER FRAME HOUSE Tedd Benson 1980

Comments

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  • See caruncle.

    November 22, 2007

  • A tree or shrub of the genus Acacia.

    December 18, 2007

  • Wattle reesetee be listing next?!

    December 18, 2007

  • Watch it--I may start a list of bird parts. ;->

    Anyway, that was a mollusque addition, I believe. We're charter members of the Shared List Club.

    December 18, 2007

  • Any word whose definition commences: "a fleshy wrinkled and often brightly colored fold of skin" has many interesting possibilities.

    Does the assembled Conference of Avians hereby approve?

    25 mapies say 'Aye'.

    And those birds on the fence or against?

    1 popinjay says 'Nay'.

    MOTION CARRIED.

    December 18, 2007

  • Buzzard gizzard. How's that for a bird part?

    December 18, 2007

  • Luvverly. Can I swap one for a wagtail's entrails?

    December 18, 2007

  • reesetee, you don't already have a Bird Parts list?! Shameful! (<--me posing as a listmistress)

    December 18, 2007

  • Hey, I only have two hands, you know! Why, I haven't even begun to think about my bird vocalizations list....

    December 18, 2007

  • You know, wattle and waffle would have the same definition...except for two very good reasons.

    October 19, 2008

  • This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.

    November 11, 2009

  • From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport.

    January 19, 2010