yaffle

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Imitative of the bird's cry.

Noun

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yaffle (plural yaffles)

  1. (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
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Verb

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yaffle (third-person singular simple present yaffles, present participle yaffling, simple past and past participle yaffled)

  1. (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

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

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yaffle (third-person singular simple present yaffles, present participle yaffling, simple past and past participle yaffled)

  1. (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
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  • John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

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