Rattle

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ætÉ™l

Origin

Verb from Middle English, either from Old English (not attested) or Middle Dutch ratelen, ultimately imitative. The noun (c. 1500) is from the verb.

Full definition of rattle

Noun

1. (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
• PriorThe rattle of a drum.
2. A baby's toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
• Alexander PopePleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
3. A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
• Sir Walter RaleighThe rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.
4. (dated) Noisy, rapid talk.
• HakewillAll this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.
5. (dated) A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
• MacaulayIt may seem strange that a man who wrote with so much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle.
6. A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
7. (zoology) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.The rattle of the rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and modified in form so as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.
8. The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; death rattle.

Derived terms

• rattlesnake
• spring a rattle
• yellow rattle (plant)

Verb

1. (transitive, ergative) To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.to rattle a chainRattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.
• 2011, February 5, Michael Kevin Darling, Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton, It was a deflating end to the drama for the hosts and they appeared ruffled, with Bolton going close to a leveller when Johan Elmander rattled the bar with a header from Matt Taylor's cross.
2. (transitive, informal) To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.The accident really rattled him.
3. (intransitive) To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.''I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
• ShakespeareSound but another drum, and another shall
  As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To scold; to rail at.
6. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.We rattled along for a couple of miles.
7. To make a clatter with a voice; to talk rapidly and idly; with on or away.She rattled on for an hour.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• latter, tarlet, Tatler