Wat″tle (?), n. [AS. watel, watul, watol, hurdle, covering, wattle; cf. OE. watel a bag. Cf. Wallet.]
1. A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods.
And there he built with wattles from the marsh
A little lonely church in days of yore. Tennyson.
2. A rod laid on a roof to support the thatch.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) A naked fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored, process of the skin hanging from the chin or throat of a bird or reptile. (b) Barbel of a fish.
4. (a) The astringent bark of several Australian trees of the genus Acacia, used in tanning; — called also wattle bark. (b) (Bot.) The trees from which the bark is obtained. See Savanna wattle, under Savanna.
Wattle turkey. (Zoöl.) Same as Brush turkey.