Waffle Definition

wŏfəl
waffled, waffles, waffling
noun
waffles
A batter cake like a pancake but crisper, baked in a waffle iron, which gives it a gridlike surface.
Webster's New World
Wordy, vague, or indecisive talk or writing.
Webster's New World
verb
waffled, waffles, waffling
To be unable to make a decision; waver.
He waffled over whether to ask for a raise.
American Heritage
To speak or write evasively.
American Heritage
To speak or write in a wordy, vague, or indecisive manner.
Webster's New World
To rotate (one's hand) back and forth in a gesture of vacillation or ambivalence.
Wiktionary

To smash.

Wiktionary
adjective
Having a surface like that of a waffle.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Waffle

Noun

Singular:
waffle
Plural:
waffles

Origin of Waffle

  • The Dutch word wafel was adopted into English in the 1700s. The Dutch word, in turn, derives from the Middle Low German wāfel (modern German Waffel), which was borrowed into Middle English around 1377 as wafer, and which is also the source of the French gaufre. Wāfel, in turn, derives from the Old High German waba, wabo (modern German Wabe), meaning honeycomb and ultimately related to the word weave. The verb sense "to smash" derives from the manner in which waffle-batter is smashed into its shape between the two halves of a waffle iron, and the sense "to press a waffle pattern into" derives from the pattern the waffle-iron-halves impart.

    From Wiktionary

  • From the Scots waffle, "to waver, to flutter", a variation of the Scots waff ("to flutter, to wave", related to wave), with the suffix -le added. Alternatively, perhaps derived from waff, an imitation of a dog's (unintelligible and thus meaningless) yelp (cf woof). Also note Old English wæflian (“to talk foolishly").

    From Wiktionary

  • Probably frequentative of obsolete waff to yelp probably of imitative origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Dutch wafel from Middle Dutch wāfel webh- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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