Meaning of rattle | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Object that rattles.
   countable, uncountable
2. Any of various plants of the genera Rhinanthus and Pedicularis, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.
   countable, uncountable
3. A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
   countable, uncountable
4. A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
   countable, uncountable
5. A device which produces a loud rattling sound, especially one having a ratchet mechanism and spun round on a handle.
   countable, uncountable
6. The set of rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail which produce a rattling sound.
   countable, uncountable
7. Rattling sound.
   countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable
8. A rapid succession of percussive sounds, as made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
   countable, onomatopoeic, uncountable
9. Noisy, rapid talk; babble.
   archaic, countable, uncountable
10. Trivial chatter; gossip.
    archaic, uncountable
11. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
    countable, uncountable
12. A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
    countable, obsolete, uncountable
13. A rough noise produced in the throat by air passing through obstructed airways; croup; a death rattle.
    countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.”

“The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.”

“[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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“All this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceipt.”

““And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?””

“‘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.”

CEFR level