waffle

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to speak or write vaguely and at length, or to vacillate indecisively

   Stop waffling and tell me whether you'll come.

Simplified etymology

The verb waffle comes from the English dialect word waff, “to yelp,” the same sound-imitative word as woof. In the 17th century waffle meant “to yap or yelp,” then “to dither”; its modern sense of talking vaguely or trivially at length developed around the start of the 20th century. The noun for a crisp batter cake is unrelated: it comes from Dutch wafel and earlier Old French gaufre, the root of wafer. Gaufre also meant “honeycomb,” probably referring to the honeycomb-like indentations on a waffle or wafer.

The 'speak vaguely' sense is from waff, an imitative word meaning to yelp or bark, plus the frequentative -le; the food sense is unrelated, from Dutch wafel.

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