different between haffle vs yaffle

English

Etymology

Compare German haften (“to cling, stick to; (dialect) to stop, stammer”).

Verb

haffle (third-person singular simple present haffles, present participle haffling, simple past and past participle haffled)

1. (Britain, dialect) To stammer; to speak unintelligibly; to prevaricate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

English

Etymology

Imitative of the bird's cry.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?jafl?/

  Rhymes: -æf?l

Noun

yaffle (plural yaffles)

1. (Britain, dialectal) The European green woodpecker, Picus viridis.
   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not…, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 119:

     “‘Punched that rotton strap,’ he goes on saying, ‘like a gret ol' yaffle punchin' a 'ollow log!’”

Synonyms

• (Picus viridis): yaffingale, yaffler, woodall

Translations

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.

Anagrams

• Laffey