Wattle WATTLE, n. [L., a shoot.]
1. Properly, a twig or flexible rod; and hence, a hurdle.
2. The fleshy excrescence that grows under the throat of a cock or turkey, or a like substance on a fish.
3. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
WATTLE, v.t.
1. To bind with twigs.
2. To twist or interweave twigs one with another; to plat; to for a kind of network with flexible branches; as, to wattle a hedge.

wattle n 1: a fleshy wrinkled and often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds (chickens and turkeys) or lizards [syn: wattle, lappet] 2: framework consisting of stakes interwoven with branches to form a fence 3: any of various Australasian trees yielding slender poles suitable for wattle v 1: build of or with wattle 2: interlace to form wattle

wattle I. noun Etymology: Middle English wattel, from Old English watel; akin to Old High German wadal bandage Date: before 12th century 1. a. a fabrication of poles interwoven with slender branches, withes, or reeds and used especially formerly in building b. material for such construction c. plural poles laid on a roof to support thatch 2. Australian acacia 2 • wattled adjective II. transitive verb (wattled; wattling) Date: 14th century 1. to form or build of or with wattle 2. a. to form into wattle ; interlace to form wattle b. to unite or make solid by interweaving light flexible material III. noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1513 a fleshy pendulous process usually about the head or neck (as of a bird)

wattle
1.
n. & v.
--n.
1 a interlaced rods and split rods as a material for making fences, walls, etc. b (in sing. or pl.) rods and twigs for this use.
2 an Australian acacia with long pliant branches, with bark used in tanning and golden flowers used as the national emblem.
3 dial. a wicker hurdle.
--v.tr.
1 make of wattle.
2 enclose or fill up with wattles.
Phrases and idioms:
wattle and daub a network of rods and twigs plastered with mud or clay as a building material.
Etymology: OE watul, of unkn. orig.
2.
n.
1 a loose fleshy appendage on the head or throat of a turkey or other birds.
2 = BARB n. 3.
Derivatives:
wattled adj.
Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

wattle Wattle is a framework made by weaving thin sticks through thick sticks which is used for making fences and walls. (BRIT) ...the native huts of mud and wattle. ...wattle fencing. N-UNCOUNT

WATTLE was my What's The Word? choice for Monday, Mar 30, 2009

Wattle \Wat"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wattled; p. pr. & vb. n. Wattling.] 1. To bind with twigs. 2. To twist or interweave, one with another, as twigs; to form a network with; to plat; as, to wattle branches. 3. To form, by interweaving or platting twigs. The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes. --Milton.

Wattle \Wat"tle\, n. [AS. watel, watul, watol, hurdle, covering, wattle; cf. OE. watel a bag. Cf. Wallet.] 1. A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods. And there he built with wattles from the marsh A little lonely church in days of yore. --Tennyson. 2. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch. 3. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A naked fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored, process of the skin hanging from the chin or throat of a bird or reptile. (b) Barbel of a fish. 4. (a) The astringent bark of several Australian trees of the genus Acacia, used in tanning; -- called also wattle bark. (b) (Bot.) The trees from which the bark is obtained. See Savanna wattle, under Savanna. Wattle turkey. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Brush turkey.

Wattle \Wat"tle\, n. 1. Material consisting of wattled twigs, withes, etc., used for walls, fences, and the like. ``The pailsade of wattle.'' --Frances Macnab. 2. (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.

wattle n. Hurdle (of twigs).

79 Moby Thesaurus words for "wattle": arabesque, basketry, basketwork, braid, cancellation, cross-hatching, crossing-out, enlace, entwine, filigree, fret, fretwork, grate, grating, grid, gridiron, grille, grillwork, hachure, hatching, interknit, interlace, interlacement, intertexture, intertie, intertissue, intertwine, intertwinement, intertwist, interweave, intort, knit, lace, lacery, lacework, lacing, lattice, latticework, loom, loop, mat, mesh, meshes, meshwork, net, netting, network, noose, plait, pleach, plexure, plexus, raddle, reticle, reticulation, reticule, reticulum, riddle, screen, screening, sieve, splice, texture, tissue, tracery, trellis, trelliswork, twill, twine, twist, weave, weaving, web, webbing, webwork, weft, wicker, wickerwork, wreathe

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