Wafer (?), n. [OE. wafre, OF. waufre, qaufre, F. qaufre; of Teutonic origin; cf. LG. & D. wafel, G. waffel, Dan. vaffel, Sw. våffla; all akin to G. wabe a honeycomb, OHG. waba, being named from the resemblance to a honeycomb. G. wabe is probably akin to E. weave. See Weave, and cf. Waffle, Gauffer.]
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1. (Cookery) A thin cake made of flour and other ingredients.
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Wafers piping hot out of the gleed. Chaucer.
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The curious work in pastry, the fine cakes, wafers, and marchpanes. Holland.
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A woman's oaths are wafers -- break with making B. Jonson.
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2. (Eccl.) A thin cake or piece of bread (commonly unleavened, circular, and stamped with a crucifix or with the sacred monogram) used in the Eucharist, as in the Roman Catholic Church.
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3. An adhesive disk of dried paste, made of flour, gelatin, isinglass, or the like, and coloring matter, -- used in sealing letters and other documents.
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4. Any thin but rigid plate of solid material, esp. of discoidal shape; -- a term used commonly to refer to the thin slices of silicon used as starting material for the manufacture of integrated circuits.
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Wafer cake, a sweet, thin cake. Shak. -- Wafer irons, or Wafer tongs (Cookery), a pincher-shaped contrivance, having flat plates, or blades, between which wafers are baked. -- Wafer woman, a woman who sold wafer cakes; also, one employed in amorous intrigues. Beau. & Fl.
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