Yaffle

//ˈjafl̩// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The European green woodpecker, Picus viridis. UK, dialectal

    "I remember the cry of the wood-peckers, or yaffils, as we call them in that country, going to roost in a pale autumnal evening […]."

Verb
  1. 1
    Of the green woodpecker: to make its distinctive cry. intransitive

    "Green woodpecker is not without options. Each year the builder comes to fix the house of the wooden roof. Green woodpecker watches then flies away, yaffling."

  2. 2
    To eat. obsolete, slang

    "At the mention of yaffling—the cant for eating—Ewan felt a pang of hunger in his belly."

Synonyms

All synonyms
green woodpeckerwhetilewoodallyaffingaleyaffingaleyaffler

Example

More examples

"I remember the cry of the wood-peckers, or yaffils, as we call them in that country, going to roost in a pale autumnal evening […]."

Etymology

Imitative of the bird's cry.

Related phrases

green woodpeckerpicus viridis

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