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Rattle   /rˈætəl/   Listen
noun
Rattle  n.  
1.
A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum.
2.
Noisy, rapid talk. "All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit."
3.
An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken. "The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other." "Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw."
4.
A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer. "It 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."
5.
A scolding; a sharp rebuke. (Obs.)
6.
(Zool.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound. Note: The rattle of a rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and so modified in form as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.
7.
The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; chiefly observable at the approach of death, when it is called the death rattle. See Rale.
To spring a rattle, to cause it to sound.
Yellow rattle (Bot.), a yellow-flowered herb (Rhinanthus Crista-galli), the ripe seeds of which rattle in the inflated calyx.


verb
Rattle  v. t.  
1.
To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, to rattle a chain.
2.
To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise. "Sound but another (drum), and another shall As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear."
3.
Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's judgment; to rattle a player in a game. (Colloq.)
4.
To scold; to rail at.
To rattle off.
(a)
To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a story.
(b)
To rail at; to scold. "She would sometimes rattle off her servants sharply."


Rattle  v. i.  (past & past part. rattled; pres. part. rattling)  
1.
To make a quick succession of sharp, inharmonious noises, as by the collision of hard and not very sonorous bodies shaken together; to clatter. "And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms." "'T was but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street."
2.
To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as, we rattled along for a couple of miles. (Colloq.)
3.
To make a clatter with the voice; to talk rapidly and idly; to clatter; with on or away; as, she rattled on for an hour. (Colloq.)





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Rattle" Quotes from Famous Books



... the target. These mechanical words, these conventional petitions, these syllables winged by no real desire, inspired by no faith, these expressions of devotion, far too wide for their real contents, which rattle in them like a dried kernel in a nut, are these prayers? Is there any wonder that they have been dispersed in empty air, and that we have been put to shame before our enemies? Brethren in the ministry, do we need to be surprised at our fruitless work, when we think of our ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Isaiah and Jeremiah • Alexander Maclaren
... haste to follow his example. They knew that there could be but one reason for this order. A steel scabbard hanging by the side of a careless rider will strike against his spurs with every step his horse takes, or rattle against his leg as the trooper walks about, giving out a clear ringing sound that will betray his presence to foes far less watchful ...
— George at the Fort - Life Among the Soldiers • Harry Castlemon
... four when a sound struck on her ears, a loud and trembling chord, a buzz, the rattle of a "cut-out." The blessed noises drew near. They were certainly in the little by-road which led to the house. They ceased. She did not move, but sat where she ...
— The Way of Ambition • Robert Hichens
... pollution of his presence, leaving him alone in the great house with the black page. And this house was shunned as though marked with the cross of the pestilence. The more high-spirited Jew-boys would throw stones at its windows or rattle its doors, but it was even keener sport to run after its tenant himself, on the rare occasions when he appeared in the streets, to spit out like their elders at the sight of him, to pelt him with mud, and to shout after him, ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill
... fetch it. At first I hesitated—all but refused. But who can withstand an appeal made in the name of his mother? I pressed his hand in silent acquiescence and took the next train West. I found the child and folded it to my heart. I bought it a milk bottle with a fancy nozzle, a bull's eye, and a rattle. It wept, and I dried its tears. Then I brought it back with me. Fancy my feelings, Warlock; picture to yourself my lacerated, bleeding heart, when upon reaching town this afternoon I learned that my brother ...
— Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York • Lemuel Ely Quigg


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