Re: To waffle, 'to waver, to vacillate, to equivocate, to dither'

 Ar an cúigiú lá is fiche de mí Aibreán, scríobh Steve Hayes:

 > >Speaking (in sci.lang) of Andy Grove, he uses waffle in the above sense in
 > >his good, well-edited ‘High Output Management.’ In my youth I would only
 > >have used or understood the word in the meaning ‘to ramble on, to say
 > >nothing of much consequence,’ and OED2 documents that the
 > >fail-to-make-a-decision sense is colloquial or non-standard.
 >
 > What is the "above" sense?

The one in the subject, ‘to waver, to vacillate, to equivocate, to dither.’

 > I see no sense "above".
 >
 > >I presume I have misunderstood various Americans over the years in not
 > >picking up on the ‘dither’ meaning. How universal is that meaning over
 > >there?
 >
 > For what values of "that"?

“Dither,” to fail to make a decision when making a decision would be
appropriate.

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
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