▪ I. waffle, n.1 U.S.
(ˈwɒf(ə)l)
[a. Du. wafel: see wafer n.]
a. A kind of batter-cake, baked in a waffle-iron, and eaten hot with butter or molasses.
| 1744, 1794 [see sense b]. 1809 A. Burr Jrnl. 26 Aug. (1903) I. 214 Everywhere, too, you get wafen; our wafles, and made and eaten in the same way. 1817 M. Birkbeck Notes Journ. Amer. (1818) 64 Waffles (a soft hot cake of German extraction, covered with butter). 1870 D. Macrae Amer. at Home I. 291 The Americans are all fond of molasses; using them regularly at breakfast and supper to their buckwheat cakes and waffles. 1893 T. N. Page In Ole Virginia 221 He ordered waffles and hoe-cakes for breakfast. |
b. Comb., as waffle frolic, waffle party; waffle-iron, an iron utensil for baking waffles over a fire; waffle stomper U.S. slang, a boot or shoe with a heavy, ridged sole.
| 1744 in Mag. Amer. Hist. (1878) II. 442 For my own part I was not a little grieved that so luxurious a feast should come under the name of a wafel frolic. 1794 S. Carolina State Gaz. 30 Aug. 1/2 (Advt.), Waffle irons. 1808 in Scribner's Mag. (1887) II. 183/1 They are going to have a fine waffle party on Tuesday. 1882 Harper's Mag. Apr. 666/1 She tells him of ‘little waffle parties’ formed by her intimates. 1888 E. Eggleston Graysons xxxi. 334 She took down the long-handled waffle-irons. 1899 Academy 11 Feb. 183/1 Toasting-forks and waffle-irons had long handles, to make endurable the blazing heat of the great logs. 1974 Sunday (Charleston, S. Carolina) 7 Apr. 10-c/8 ‘Waffle stompers’, should anybody be wondering, are hiking shoes. |
c. Textiles. Used attrib. of a style of fine honeycomb weaving (see honeycomb n. 5 b). Also applied to the fabric woven and to the effect produced.
| [1948 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Fall-Winter 45/2 Cotton Chenille Spread. Sturdy white cotton sheeting tufted with fluffy chenille in regular, even waffle pattern.] 1949 Good Housek. Apr. 261/2 Waffle piqué is characterized by a honeycomb weave; it is not a true piqué. 1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 74 We had it copied faithfully for you in the..white Birdseye waffle pique. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 7 Mar. (B ed.) 3/4 Part of the secret lay in the ‘waffle-weave’, a..technique which required special machinery... It produces a cloth that looks like a waffle, or a honeycomb. 1961 Sunday Express 28 May 14/2 (caption) Tops in waffle-knit cotton. 1962 W. Schirra in Into Orbit 49 A series of waffle-weave patches on our long john underwear helps to keep the oxygen moving. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 242/2 (caption) Elements of the mid-fifties—the ‘sloppy Joe’,..the waffle cotton shorts. 1979 Men's Wear 3 May 24 Texture returns with fine seersuckers and waffle cloth. |
▪ II. ˈwaffle, n.2
Also woffle.
[f. the verb.]
1. dial. ‘The bark of a small dog’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
2. a. Printers' slang. ‘Twaddle, gossip, or {oqq}jaw{cqq}’ (Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 1888). b. In gen. colloq. use, verbose but inconsequential talk or writing; empty verbiage (see also quot. 1937).
| [1866 J. E. Brogden Provinc. Words Lincs. 219 Waffle⁓bags, a great talker.] 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 935/1 Waffle, nonsense; gossip(ing); incessant or copious talk. 1953 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 Mar. 164/1 A little technical detail and a good deal of emotional waffle. 1957 Economist 21 Dec. 1041/2 His ability to distinguish the essence and to cut the waffle in any discussion are exceptional. 1961 C. S. Lewis Let. 9 May (1966) 298 For a good..defence of our position against modern woffle... I know nothing better than G. K. Chesterton's The Everlasting Man. 1965 Spectator 22 Jan. 96/1 There is a special relationship between Britain and the United States, a special relationship more serious than the waffle we get at banquets. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon i. 20 Cut out the waffle, and let's see your application. |
▪ III. ˈwaffle, v.
Also whaffle, woffle, wuffle.
[Freq. of waff v.3]
1. intr. To yelp. Now dial.
| 1698 Christ Exalted §xcv. 77 His branding all that dissent from the Writings of Mr. Williams to be Whaffling Whelps, that can bark and not bite. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 23 Waffling curs and shepherd-dogs pursue. |
2. a. To waver; to vacillate or equivocate; to ‘dither’. orig. Sc. and north. dial. Now colloq. or non-Standard.
| 1803, etc. [see waffler 1]. 1868 [see waffling ppl. a.]. 1893–4 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words II. 762 Waffle, to waft about, to waver, to walk hesitatingly, to act with indecision. 1898 B. Kirkby Lakeland Words 152 Thoo'l waffle aboot an' say owt. 1943 Horizon Apr. 234 While I was still waffling I read ‘The Mint’. 1961 C. H. D. Todd Popular Whippet 51 Have we an ideal or are we just ‘waffling around’ following this, that and the other. 1976 Telegraph-Jrnl. (St. John, New Brunswick) 4 Sept. 17/1 She defends the board against suggestions that it waffled on the issue because of political pressure. |
b. To talk (or write) in a verbose but inconsequential manner; to ramble on. Also trans. with direct speech as obj.
| [1701 J. White Countryman's Conductor 128 Waffling, all speakers and no hearers.] 1900 Farmer Public School Word-Bk. 216 Waffle,..(Durham) to talk nonsense. 1936 R. Lehmann Weather in Streets i. v. 83 Nanny would wuffle on, and make me change my stockings. 1937 G. Heyer They found him Dead iv. 83 He woffled a whole lot to me about people bothering his life out. 1949 J. B. Priestley Delight 15 The wise men woffled on about violence and crime, missing the point by miles. 1957 G. Smith Friends 60 ‘Funny thing is, it seems to improve my game,’ waffled Bill amiably. 1960 L. Meynell Bandaberry i. 8, I under-estimated his shrewdness... I thought he was waffling. 1982 P. Dickinson Last House-Party ii. 22 You can make the correct noises while all the old buffers are woffling on. |
Hence ˈwaffling ppl. a., and vbl. n.
| 1698, 1821 [see sense 1]. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 145 'Tis you I punch at, worthless, wafflin crood. 1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 554 A windy, waffling soort o' chap, wheea nivver kens his ain mind. 1945 J. Reith Diary 11 Apr. (1975) vii. 346 A typical silly, waffling letter which Cranborne had written. 1958 J. Cannan And be Villain v. 118 His sharp harsh tones were a joy to hear after the wafflings of the soft voiced Highlander. 1967 New Yorker 8 July 67 There will be..a large majority for a waffling resolution..calling for Israel to withdraw from the conquered territories but not passing judgement on the original conquests. 1973 J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 231 Waffling, thoughtless stupidity. 1976 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 23 May 44/6 They should not be regarded as the wafflings of people sounding off in the papers. |
Add: c. Of an aircraft or motor vehicle: to cruise along in a leisurely manner, usu. at low speed. colloq. (orig. R.A.F.).
| [1932 Flight 6 May 393/2 He did a terrific dive..followed by an upward spin, finishing with a ‘waffle’ across the aerodrome.] 1941 Listener 5 June 791/1, I came out of the cloud and there, dead in my sights and not 100 yards away, a Ju. 88 was waffling contentedly along. 1969 Telegraph (Brisbane) 27 June 2/1 She was waffling along nice and slow near Newmarket and a cop pulled her up. |