Wattle

//ˈwɒtl̩// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof. countable, uncountable

    "And there the heathen Prince, Arviragus, / Gave him an isle of marsh whereon to build; / And there he built with wattles from the marsh / A little lonely church in days of yore, […]"

  2. 2
    framework consisting of stakes interwoven with branches to form a fence wordnet
  3. 3
    A single twig or rod laid on a roof to support the thatch. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    a fleshy wrinkled and often brightly colored fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat of certain birds (chickens and turkeys) or lizards wordnet
  5. 5
    A wrinkled fold of skin, sometimes brightly coloured, hanging from the neck of birds (such as chicken and turkey) and some lizards. countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    any of various Australasian trees yielding slender poles suitable for wattle wordnet
  2. 7
    A barbel of a fish. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A decorative fleshy appendage on the neck of a goat. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    Loose hanging skin in the neck of a person. countable, uncountable

    "The buttons below his waddle open to reveal a ruddy V, tidemark of the sun."

  5. 10
    Any of several Australian trees and shrubs of the genus Acacia, or their bark, used in tanning, seen as a national emblem of Australia. countable, uncountable

    "The tents and sheets are made of the best Canadian duck, tanned for the purpose of preservation with a strong extract of iron-bark and wattle-bark."

Verb
  1. 1
    To construct a wattle, or make a construction of wattles. transitive
  2. 2
    interlace to form wattle wordnet
  3. 3
    To bind with wattles or twigs. transitive
  4. 4
    build of or with wattle wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
acaciaacaciaarabesquebasketrybasketworkbraid

Example

More examples

"Nowadays, few ordinary city dwellers ever use the word "wattle"."

Etymology

From Middle English wattel, watel, from Old English watel, watul (“hurdle”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, wind, bend”).

Related phrases

Cootamundra wattleWattle Rangeblack wattlechinchilla wattlecinnamon wattleclimbing wattlegolden wattlehickory wattlepinbush wattlesallee wattlesavanna wattlesavannah wattle

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.