rattle
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
entertainment
lifestyle
music
natural-sciences
zoology
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.
Inflected forms:
form: rattles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: rattling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: rattled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: rattled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: rattles
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
pos: verb
tags: ergative
transitive
examples: to rattle a chain
Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.
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.
gloss: To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
informal
transitive
examples: “Tut!” said old Bittlesham. “Tut is right”, I agreed. Then the rumminess of the thing struck me. “But if you haven’t dropped a parcel over the race,” I said, “why are you looking so rattled?”
That United were rattled, mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question. Nick Powell clipped a crisp drive a foot over the bar, but otherwise Milton Keynes had the best of the remainder of the first half.
The German authorities are still trying to determine what damage their mole may have done. But the discovery of a double agent has rattled German political circles.
gloss: To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.
gloss: To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Sound but another [drum], and another shall / As loud as thine rattle the welkin’s ear.
gloss: To scold; to rail at.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: This came to the Bishop's Ear, who presently sent for the Curate, Rattled him to some Tune, with Menaces to the Highest Degree
gloss: To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.
pos: verb
examples: We rattled along for a couple of miles.
gloss: To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.
pos: verb
examples: She rattled on for an hour.
gloss: To experience withdrawal from drugs.
pos: verb
tags: UK
slang
gloss: Object that rattles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Object that rattles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
gloss: Object that rattles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.
gloss: Object that rattles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: [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.
gloss: Object that rattles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
The majority of snakes were killed on the spot, as a snaker only had to produce the rattles to collect the bounty.
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
onomatopoeic
uncountable
examples: I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
The rattle of a drum.
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.
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: All this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceipt.
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
uncountable
examples: “And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?”
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: ‘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 […].’
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.
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
gloss: Rattling sound.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
Related words: clapper
clatter
jingle
rumble
ruttle
Derived words: death rattle
death-rattle
rattlesnake
rattle about
rattle around
rattle a saber
rattle a sabre
rattle can
rattle-free
rattle off
rattle on
rattle one's hocks
rattle one's saber
rattle one's sabre
rattler
rattle sabres
rattle someone's cage
rattle someone's chain
rattle the bones
rattle the saber
rattle the sabre
rattle through
rattletrap
rattle trap
rerattle
saber rattle
saber-rattle
sabre-rattle
sabre rattle
sabre-rattling
unrattled
antirattle
berattle
gourd rattle
in the rattle
rattleback
rattlebag
rattlebox
rattlebrain
rattlebrained
rattlebush
rattlehead
rattleheaded
rattleless
rattlepate
rattlepated
rattlepod
rattleproof
rattleroot
rattleskull
rattlesome
rattle stone
rattleweed
rattlewings
rattlewort
rattly
red rattle
Scotsman's rattle
throw one's rattle out of the cot
throw one's rattle out of the pram
tobacco rattle
watchman's rattle
yellow rattle
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: ratel
lang: Bulgarian
word: тропане
roman: tropane
lang: Bulgarian
word: чукане
roman: čukane
lang: Dutch
word: gerammel
lang: Dutch
word: geratel
lang: Finnish
word: kolina
lang: Finnish
word: kalina
lang: Finnish
word: helinä
lang: French
word: bruit
lang: French
word: cliquetis
lang: French
word: crépitement
lang: Galician
word: ruxe ruxe
lang: German
word: Rasseln
lang: German
word: Klappern
lang: German
word: Gerassel
lang: German
word: Geklapper
lang: Ancient Greek
word: κρότος
roman: krótos
lang: Hungarian
word: csörgés
lang: Hungarian
word: zörgés
lang: Irish
word: gliogar
lang: Japanese
word: ガタガタ音
roman: gatagata-on
lang: Latin
word: crepitus
lang: Māori
word: whakararā
lang: Polish
word: grzechotanie
lang: Polish
word: trajkotanie
lang: Polish
word: klekotanie
lang: Portuguese
word: chocalhada
lang: Russian
word: треск
roman: tresk
lang: Russian
word: гро́хот
roman: gróxot
lang: Russian
word: дребезжа́ние
roman: drebezžánije
lang: Russian
word: стук
roman: stuk
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: клопо̀тац
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: чегр̀та̄љка
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: зве̏чка
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: кле̏пе̄т
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: кло̏по̄т
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: хро̀пац
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ропац
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: klopòtac
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: čegr̀tāljka
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: zvȅčka
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: klȅpēt
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: klȍpōt
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: hròpac
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: ropac
lang: Spanish
word: matraca
lang: Swahili
word: kayamba
lang: Swedish
word: rassel
lang: Vietnamese
word: lách cách
lang: Vietnamese
word: lạch cạch
lang: Dutch
word: ratel
lang: Finnish
word: kalistin
lang: Polish
word: grzechotka
lang: Portuguese
word: chocalho
lang: Portuguese
word: guizo
lang: Portuguese
word: cascavel
lang: French
word: râle
lang: Māori
word: ngēngē
lang: Polish
word: charczenie
lang: Polish
word: rzężenie