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yaffle. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
yaffle, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
yaffle in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
yaffle you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Imitative of the bird's cry.
Noun
yaffle (plural yaffles)
- (UK, dialectal) The European green woodpecker, Picus viridis.
- Synonyms: yaffingale, yaffler, woodall
1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 114: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 […] .
1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 119:“‘Punched that rotton strap,’ he goes on saying, ‘like a gret ol' yaffle punchin' a 'ollow log!’”
Translations
Verb
yaffle (third-person singular simple present yaffles, present participle yaffling, simple past and past participle yaffled)
- (intransitive) Of the green woodpecker: to make its distinctive cry.
2005, Tim Kendall, Strange Land, page 13: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.
Etymology 2
Verb
yaffle (third-person singular simple present yaffles, present participle yaffling, simple past and past participle yaffled)
- (slang, obsolete) To eat.
2017, Vanessa Kelly, Shana Galen, Anna Campbell, Kate Noble, A Grosvenor Square Christmas:At the mention of yaffling—the cant for eating—Ewan felt a pang of hunger in his belly.
2019, Ellie Jacobs, Workhouse Waif: A Victorian Romance:You're growing squab yaffling our food and then lazing in the hallway.
References
- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
Anagrams