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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rattle \Rat"tle\ (r[a^]t"t'l), verb (used with an object)
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. --L'Estrange.
{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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rattle \Rat"tle\ (r[a^]t"t'l), verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Rattled} (-t'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Rattling} (-tl[i^]ng).] [Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hr[ae]tele a rattle, in hr[ae]telwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. kradai'nein 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.
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.]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rattle \Rat"tle\, noun
1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. --Prior.
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.] --Heylin.
6. (Zo["o]l.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
Note: 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.
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 {R[^a]le}.
{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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
rattle
noun
1: a rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders); "the death rattle" [syn: {rattling}, {rale}]
2: a baby's toy that makes percussive noises when shaken
3: loosely connected horny sections at the end of a rattlesnake's tail
verb
1: make short successive sounds
2: shake and cause to make a rattling noise
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
333 Moby Thesaurus words for "rattle": Bedlam let loose, Klaxon, abash, abate, addle, addle the wits, agitate, agreeable rattle, assault, attenuate, babble, babbler, ball up, battery, bear, bear upon, becloud, bedazzle, bedlam, befuddle, bells, bewilder, bicker, big talker, blab, blabber, blabberer, blast, blather, blatherer, blether, blunt, bobbery, boiler factory, boiler room, bones, boost, bother, bounce, brattle, brawl, brouhaha, buck, bug, bull, bull-roarer, bulldoze, bullshit, bump, bump against, bunt, butt, butt against, cackle, call off, castanets, catcall, celesta, charivari, chat, chatter, chatterbox, chatterer, cherry bomb, chime, chimes, chirm, clack, clacker, clacket, clamor, clangor, clap, clapper, clappers, clatter, clatter about, clitter, clitterclatter, cloud, clunter, commotion, confound, confuse, cracker, crackle, crackling, cram, cramp, crash cymbal, cricket, cripple, crowd, cymbals, damp, dampen, daze, dazzle, deaden, debilitate, devitalize, dig, din, discombobulate, discomfit, discompose, disconcert, discord, discountenance, disorganize, disorient, disquiet, distract, disturb, dither, donnybrook, drive, drivel, drool, drunken brawl, dull, dustup, elbow, electrify, embarrass, enervate, enfeeble, entangle, enumerate, eviscerate, exhaust, extenuate, faze, finger cymbals, firecracker, flap, flummox, flurry, fluster, flutter, fog, force, fracas, free-for-all, fuddle, fuss, gab, gabber, gabble, gabbler, gamelan, gas, gasbag, gibber, gibble-gabble, gibble-gabbler, glockenspiel, go on, goad, gong, gossip, great talker, gruel, gush, handbells, haver, hell broke loose, horn, hot-air artist, howl, hubbub, hue and cry, hullabaloo, hurtle, hustle, idiophone, idle chatterer, jab, jabber, jabberer, jam, jangle, jar, jaw, jay, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, jounce, lay low, list, loud noise, lyra, magpie, maraca, marimba, maze, metallophone, mist, mitigate, mix up, moider, moulin a paroles, muddle, natter, noise, noise and shouting, noisemaker, nudge, orchestral bells, outcry, palaver, pandemonium, patter, patterer, percussion, percussion instrument, percussions, percussive, perplex, perturb, piffle, pile drive, poke, pother, pour forth, prate, prater, prattle, prattler, press, prod, punch, push, put off, put out, racket, raise hell, ram, ram down, ramble, ramble on, rattle around, rattle on, rattlebones, rattlebox, rattletybang, rattling, recite, reduce, reel off, rhubarb, roar, rock, row, ruckle, ruckus, ruction, ruffle, rumble, rumpus, run, run against, run on, run through, sap, shake, shake up, shatter, shindy, shivaree, shock, shoulder, shove, siren, sizzler, snapper, snappers, soften up, speed, spout, spout off, stagger, steam whistle, stir, stress, talk away, talk nonsense, talk on, tam-tam, tamp, throw into confusion, thrust, thunder, thunderclap, ticktack, tintamarre, tintinnabula, tittle-tattle, tonitruone, triangle, trouble, tubular bells, tumult, twaddle, twattle, unbrace, undermine, unman, unnerve, unsettle, unstrengthen, unstring, uproar, upset, utter, vapor, vibes, vibraphone, vibrate, waffle, weaken, whistle, whizgig, whizzer, windbag, windjammer, word-slinger, xylophone, yak, yakkety-yak
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