GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 3 definitions
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Rattle (rătˈt'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattled (-t'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Rattling (-tlĭng).] [Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hrætele a rattle, in hrætelwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. κραδαίνειν to swing, wave. Cf. Rail a bird.]
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.
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And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms. Addison.
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'T was but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street. Byron.
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2. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as, “we rattled along for a couple of miles”. [Colloq.]
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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.]
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Rattle (rătˈt'l), v. t.
1. To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, “to rattle a chain”.
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2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.
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Sound but another [drum], and another shall
As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear. Shak.
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3. Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, “to rattle one's judgment; to rattle a player in a game.” [Colloq.]
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4. To scold; to rail at. L'Estrange.
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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.” Arbuthnot.
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Rattle, n.
1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, “the rattle of a drum”. Prior.
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2. Noisy, rapid talk.
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All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit. Hakewill.
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3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.
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The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other. Sir W. Raleigh.
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Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. Pope.
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4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
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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.
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5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] Heylin.
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6. (Zool.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
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☞ 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.
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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 Râle.
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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.
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