means A grid-patterned batter cake cooked between two hot plates, eaten with syrup or other toppings; as a verb, to talk or write at length without saying anything decisive.

from From Dutch 'wafel,' a relative of 'weave' and 'web' — fitting, since the iron presses the batter into a woven-looking grid. The verb sense is a separate thread: it grew from an older 'waff,' an English dialect word imitating a dog's yelp, which softened over the 17th century into the idea of someone yapping on indecisively.