rattle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹæ.təl/
ipa: [ˈɹæ.tɫ̩]
rhymes: -ætəl
Forms: form: rattles
Etymology: From Middle English ratelen, of uncertain origin; perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch ratelen or of native origin related to Old English hratele, hrætele (“a plant known for its rustling or rattling sound”), ultimately imitative. The noun (c. 1500) is from the verb.
Senses: glosses: Object that rattles.
Any of various plants of the genera Rhinanthus and Pedicularis, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.
examples: text: Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Object that rattles.
A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
examples: text: The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.
ref: 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Object that rattles.
A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
examples: text: [T]he footpath to Hendon went across hay and corn fields and in summer the sound of rattles used by boys hired to "fray" the birds from the crops was familiar.
ref: 1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 107:
glosses: Object that rattles.
A device which produces a loud rattling sound, especially one having a ratchet mechanism and spun round on a handle.
examples: text: 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.
text: 2017, Kenny Salwey, J. Scott Bestul, The Last River Rat: Kenny Salwey's Life in the Wild
The majority of snakes were killed on the spot, as a snaker only had to produce the rattles to collect the bounty.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: Object that rattles.
The set of rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail which produce a rattling sound.
examples: text: I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
text: The rattle of a drum.
ref: 1902, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains, Chapter 4:
text: For a few minutes, the sharp cracking of guns ahead warned them to haste, but finally the reports dwindled to an occasional shot, presently ceasing altogether. Nor was this less ominous than the rattle of musketry, for it suggested but a single solution to the little band of rescuers—that the illy garrisoned village had already succumbed to the onslaught of a superior force.
ref: 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 133:
glosses: Rattling sound.
A rapid succession of percussive sounds, as made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
examples: text: All this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceipt.
ref: 1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Rattling sound.
Noisy, rapid talk; babble.
examples: text: “And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?”
ref: 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.v.5:
glosses: Rattling sound.
Trivial chatter; gossip.
examples: text: ‘Sir James is a young Man of an amiable disposition, and excellent character;—a little too much of the Rattle perhaps, but a year or two will rectify that […].’
ref: c. 1794, Jane Austen, Lady Susan:
text: 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.
ref: 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
glosses: Rattling sound.
A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
glosses: Rattling sound.
A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
glosses: Rattling sound.
A rough noise produced in the throat by air passing through obstructed airways; croup; a death rattle.
Derived terms: word: death rattle
word: death-rattle
word: gourd rattle
word: in the rattle
word: rattleback
word: rattlebox
word: rattlebrain
word: rattlehead
word: rattlepate
word: rattlesnake
word: rattle stone
word: red rattle
word: Scotsman's rattle
word: throw one's rattle out of the cot
word: throw one's rattle out of the pram
word: tobacco rattle
word: watchman's rattle
english: plant
translation: plant
word: yellow rattle