wattle Definition
wat·tle (wät′'l)
noun
- a sort of woven work made of sticks intertwined with twigs or branches, used for walls, fences, and roofs
- Brit., Dialectal
- a stick, rod, twig, or wand
- a hurdle or framework made of sticks, rods, etc.
- rods or poles used as the support of a thatched roof
- Austral. any of various acacias: the flexible branches were much used by early settlers for making wattles
- a fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly colored piece of skin which hangs from the chin or throat of certain birds, as the turkey, or of some lizards
- a barbel of a fish
- a fold or pouch of flesh hanging from the neck or lower part of the jaw
Etymology: ME wattel < OE watul, a hurdle, woven twigs < ? IE *wedh-, to knit, bind < base *(a)we- > weave
adjective
made of or roofed with wattle or wattles
transitive verb -·tled, -·tling
- to twist or intertwine (sticks, twigs, branches, etc.) so as to form an interwoven structure or fabric
- to construct (a fence) by intertwining sticks or twigs
- to build of, or roof, fence, etc. with, wattle
wattle Usage Examples
Converse of object
- make: It furnishes rods wherewith to make fences; but its principal use is to make wattles for the folding of sheep in the fields.
- have: Both the male and female have long yellow facial wattles as well as smaller red ones on the forehead.
- build: A wattle built across a stream to retain fish ( 4 ) 16.
- do: After dinner we split into groups and we did wattle and daub and bread making and basket weaving.
- weave: The walls are of stake construction with hazel wattle woven round them.
- expose: The building dates to the early 18th century and has exposed wattle and daub.
Adjective modifier
- red: The face is smooth and they have small smooth red wattles and earlobes.
- black: The black facial wattles are just starting to develop.
- original: The present day Crown Hotel was built after the Great Fire but you can still see the original wattle and daub construction.
- small: The head is large and crested with a short beak, leaf type comb, muffled face, small rounded wattles and earlobes.
- long: The eyes are dark brown and they have a single bright red comb, long wattles and ear lobes.
- hazel: The walls are of stake construction with hazel wattle woven round them.
Modifies a noun
- hurdle: More attractive ones can be made from wattle hurdles or woven branches.
- fence: Finally a wattle fence was built on top of the bank.
- church: In two years, enough money had been raised to build the Lady Chapel on the site of the wattle church.
- wall: All the timber in the barn, including the wattle walls, is oak.
- panel: Detail of a wattle panel on a disused cellar building.
- fencing: The outer field boundaries were either wattle fencing or live hedges.
Browse dictionary entries near wattle
- ‹ Watteau
- ‹ wattage
- ‹ Watt,James
- ‹ watt-hour
- ‹ watt
- ‹ Watson,William
- ‹ Watson-Watt
- ‹ Watson,ThomasJohn,Jr
- ‹ Watson,ThomasJohn
- ‹ Watson Sr., Thomas J.
- wattlebird ›
- wattled ›
- wattmeter ›
- Watts ›
- Watts, Isaac ›
- Watusi ›
- Waugh ›
- Waugh, Auberon Alexander ›
- Waugh, Evelyn Arthur StJohn ›
- Waukegan ›

