wattle

C2 Topic:House & Home

US /ˈwɑtl̩/ UK /ˈwɒtl̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #56965

Meanings

1

noun
A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof.

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

noun
Loose hanging skin in the neck of a person.

The buttons below his waddle open to reveal a ruddy V, tidemark of the sun.
3

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

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.
4

noun
framework consisting of stakes interwoven with branches to form a fence

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms wattle-eyewattlebird

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

silver wattle
an evergreen Australasian acacia with silvery young foliage or bark and yellow flowers

Adjective + noun

Etymology

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

Topics

House & Home

External links

# wattle

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈwɑtl̩/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈwɒtl̩/
**Frequency rank:** 56965

## Meanings
1. A construction of branches and twigs woven together to form a wall, barrier, fence, or roof.
2. Loose hanging skin in the neck of a person.
3. Any of several Australian trees and shrubs of the genus Acacia, or their bark, used in tanning, seen as a national emblem of Australia.
4. framework consisting of stakes interwoven with branches to form a fence

## Examples
- 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, […].
- The buttons below his waddle open to reveal a ruddy V, tidemark of the sun.
- 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.

## Derived Forms
- wattle-eye
- wattlebird

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

## Topics
- House & Home

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