Rattle (rătt'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattled (-t'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Rattling (-tl&ibreve_;ng).] [Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hrætele a rattle, in hrætelwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. kradainein 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, 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. (Zoöl.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
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&hand_; 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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