yaffle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjafl̩/

  Rhymes: -æfəl

Etymology 1

Imitative of the bird's cry.

Noun

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

green woodpecker — see green woodpecker

Verb

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

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

Verb

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

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• Laffey