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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.) 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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