waffle

Pluralwaffles

Formswaffles, waffling, waffled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A flat cake of batter cooked in a grid-patterned iron, often served hot with butter, honey, or syrup.

   He topped each waffle with butter and a drizzle of honey.

   The café serves crisp waffles every weekend morning.

   Note

   Dutch gave English both the cake and the word. Its source, wafel, meant both waffle and wafer, and it may go back to a root meaning "to braid, weave," which suits something stamped with a lattice. The grid travels well: Hong Kong's egg-shaped eggettes are waffles too. In the plural it names a dish (waffles for brunch); in the singular, a single piece.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To speak or write at length without any clear aim or point; to ramble.

   He can waffle on about soccer for an entire afternoon.

   Her essay waffled endlessly without ever reaching a conclusion.

   Similarramble, babble, blabber, chatter, blather

   Note

   The particle on does most of the work here: people waffle on for a bit, for ages, about the weather or the state of their garden. The talk fills time rather than dodging a question, which separates it from the evasive verb, though a speaker can easily do both at once.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To speak or write evasively or vaguely, avoiding a clear or direct statement.

   Witnesses tend to waffle when they fear the consequences of the truth.

   The spokesperson waffled around every pointed question.

   Similarhedge, equivocate, prevaricate

   Note

   The talking verbs come from Scots, where waffle meant to waver, flap or flutter. It was built on waff, "to wave," plus a frequentative ending. Here the flapping happens in the answer: words that move without committing, like a reply saying no units were "identified" rather than none alerted. Unlike the rambling verb, length is not the point; evasion is. Beat around the bush is the close equivalent.

4. 4
   nouncolloquialuncountable

   Speech or writing, often lengthy, that is evasive, vague, or pretentious.

   The essay was pure waffle, padded out to hide a lack of ideas.

   Readers skipped past the waffle to find the actual recommendation.

   Similarbabble, chatter, blather, prattle, twaddle

   Note

   The noun is a mass noun, like nonsense: a lot of waffle, pure waffle, never a waffle, which would mean the pastry. Adjectives tend to name the fault, as in self-important waffle, and the word covers vague, evasive and pretentious prose alike. It is colloquial, more at home in a reviewer's complaint than in a formal report.

5. 5
   nounBritishcountable

   A savory flat potato cake pressed with the same kind of grid pattern as the sweet version.

   She grilled a few potato waffles to go with the sausages.

   A potato waffle takes about ten minutes under the grill.

   Note

   Britain's savory cousin of the sweet batter cake carries a fuller name, potato waffle, and the short form only works when context makes the potato obvious. Next to the sweet kind on a menu, say potato waffle. On a plate beside sausages, waffle alone will do.

6. 6
   verbdialectalScotlandintransitive

   To be unable to decide; to dither or vacillate between choices.

   Buyers tend to waffle when the price feels too high.

   He waffled between the two job offers until both were withdrawn.

   Similardither, vacillate, waver, hesitate

   Oppositedecide

   Note

   A colloquialism with Scottish roots that is now applied to governments and boards as readily as to people. Germany has waffled in a standoff, and a board waffled past a deadline. The pattern waffle between two options marks the dithering itself. Where the evasive-speech verb concerns what is said, this one concerns what is decided. Blow hot and cold is its idiomatic match.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To hold one's hand horizontally and rotate it back and forth as a gesture of ambivalence.

   She waffled her hand to signal that the results were mixed.

   When asked about the restaurant, they waffle their hands and shrug.

   Similarwaggle

   Note

   Hand-talk for "so-so": the flat hand tipped back and forth acts out the dithering sense without a word. Unusually for this verb, it is transitive and takes one's hand as its object (he waffled his hand). It often serves as a complete reply to a question.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   Of a bird: to move from side to side while descending before landing.

   The geese waffle from side to side before settling on the water.

   A heron waffled gently down to the riverbank.

   Note

   The Scots flutter survives here in its most literal form: a bird rocking from side to side as it drops toward ground or water, as geese do on their approach. Whiffle names the same wavering descent and is the nearest synonym. The verb is intransitive. The bird waffles; nothing is waffled.

9. 9
   verbcolloquialintransitive

   Of an aircraft or motor vehicle: to travel slowly and in an unhurried way.

   Light aircraft waffle over the valley on sightseeing trips.

   The old truck waffled along the highway at forty miles an hour.

   Similarcruise, trundle, potter

   Oppositespeed, race

   Note

   Pilots and drivers use it for cruising without hurry: a light plane waffling over a valley, a truck waffling along the road. It is colloquial shop talk rather than technical vocabulary. It pairs naturally with along or over to say where the leisurely travel happens.

10. 10
    noununcountablebefore a noun

    A type of fabric woven so that its surface forms a raised, honeycomb-like texture.

    The spa supplies bathrobes cut from thick cotton waffle.

    Waffle holds warmth well, which is why it is popular for blankets.

    Note

    A textile word that mostly works as a modifier, as in waffle weave, though it can also stand alone for the cloth itself. The honeycomb surface borrows the look of the pastry. If the possible root behind the batter cake really meant "to weave," the word has found its way back to cloth.

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