"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Wattle

 
There are at least three different meanings to the word wattle.

Wattle is a construction of poles intertwined with twigs, reeds, or branches, used for walls, fences, and roofs; the material used for such construction It occurs frequently in the phrase 'wattle and daub' where daub was the clay used to bind the wattle and create a waterproof wall.

Secondly it is a fleshy, wrinkled, often brightly coloured fold of skin hanging from the neck or throat, characteristic of certain birds, such as chickens or turkeys, and some lizards.

In botany it is any of various Australian trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.
 

2 comments:

  1. Hey! I have one of those! I'm not going to tell you which of the descriptions I have tho!!!

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  2. I knew the middle one and I think I sort of knew the first but not the third...

    ReplyDelete