rattle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders)
    rale; rattling.
    • the death rattle
  2. noun a baby's toy that makes percussive noises when shaken
  3. noun loosely connected horny sections at the end of a rattlesnake's tail
  4. verb make short successive sounds
  5. verb shake and cause to make a rattling noise

WordNet

Rat"tle intransitive verb
Etymology
Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hrætele a rattle, in hrætelwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. to swing, wave. Cf. Rail a bird.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Rattled ; present participle & verbal noun Rattling
Definitions
  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. Addison.
    'T was but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street. Byron.
  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 a voice; to talk rapidly and idly; to clatter; -- with on or away; as, she rattled on for an hour. Colloq.
Rat"tle transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause to make a ratting or clattering sound; as, to rattle a chain.
  2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
    Sound but another [drum], and another shall As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear. Shak.
  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. L'Estrange.
Rat"tle noun
Definitions
  1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. Prior.
  2. Noisy, rapid talk.
    All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit. Hakewill.
  3. An instrument with which a ratting sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattle when shaken.
    The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other. Sir W. Raleigh.
    Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. Pope.
  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. Macaulay.
  5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. Obs. Heylin.
  6. (Zoöl.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a ratting sound. ✍ The rattle of the 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 R&acir;le.

Webster 1913