Rattle — Defs

01 v. i. To make a quick succession of sharp, inharmonious noises, as by the collision of hard and not very sonorous bodies shaken together; to clatter.

imp. & p. p. Rattled; p. pr. & vb. n. 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.” — 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 the voice; to talk rapidly and idly; to clatter; -- with on or away; as, she rattled on for an hour.[Colloq.]

02 v. t. To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, to rattle a chain.

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.” — 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.

Phrases & compounds

To rattle off — To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a story.

03 n. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum.

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.” — Hakewill.
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.” — 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.]
6.
Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.(Zool.)
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. See: Râle

Phrases & compounds

To spring a rattle — to cause it to sound.

Yellow rattle — a yellow-flowered herb (Rhinanthus Crista-galli), the ripe seeds of which rattle in the inflated calyx.