Category:Wattle

Wat"tle, n. Etym: [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. (zoöl.) (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. (zoöl.) Same as brush turkey.

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.