rattle

present singular third person rattles · participle present rattling · participle past rattled · past rattled

1. ergativetransitiveTo create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

   to rattle a chain

   2 more examples

   Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.

   It was a deflating end to the drama for the hosts and they appeared ruffled, with Bolton going close to a leveller when Johan Elmander rattled the bar with a header from Matt Taylor’s cross.

   2011 February 5, Michael Kevin Darling, “Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton”, in BBC

2. figurativelyinformaltransitiveTo scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.

   The German authorities are still trying to determine what damage their mole may have done. But the discovery of a double agent has rattled German political circles.

   2023 February 17, Erika Solomon, Christopher F. Schuetze, Julian E. Barnes, “A Russian Mole in Germany Sows Suspicions at Home, and Beyond”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   2 more examples

   “Tut!” said old Bittlesham. “Tut is right”, I agreed. Then the rumminess of the thing struck me. “But if you haven’t dropped a parcel over the race,” I said, “why are you looking so rattled?”

   1923 May 17, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “(please specify the page)”, in The Inimitable Jeeves, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   That United were rattled, mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question. Nick Powell clipped a crisp drive a foot over the bar, but otherwise Milton Keynes had the best of the remainder of the first half.

   2014 August 26, Richard Rae, “Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double”, in The Guardian

3. intransitiveTo make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

   I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.

4. obsoletetransitiveTo assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.

   Sound but another [drum], and another shall / As loud as thine rattle the welkin’s ear.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

5. obsoletetransitiveTo scold; to rail at.

   This came to the Bishop's Ear, who presently sent for the Curate, Rattled him to some Tune, with Menaces to the Highest Degree

   1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC

6. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.

   We rattled along for a couple of miles.

7. To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.

   She rattled on for an hour.

8. UKslangTo experience withdrawal from drugs.

plural rattles

1. Object that rattles.
   1. countableuncountableAny of various plants of the genera Rhinanthus and Pedicularis, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.First known use 10th c.
   2. countableuncountableA baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.First known use 16th c.

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

      1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC

   3. countableuncountableentertainmentA musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.First known use 17th c.

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

      1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)

   4. countableuncountableA device which produces a loud rattling sound, especially one having a ratchet mechanism and spun round on a handle.

      [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.

      1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 107

   5. countableuncountablebiologyThe set of rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail which produce a rattling sound.First known use 17th c.

      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.

      1 more example

      The majority of snakes were killed on the spot, as a snaker only had to produce the rattles to collect the bounty.

      2017, Kenny Salwey, J. Scott Bestul, The Last River Rat: Kenny Salwey's Life in the Wild

2. Rattling sound.
   1. countableonomatopoeicuncountableA rapid succession of percussive sounds, as made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.First known use 16th c.

      I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.

      2 more examples

      The rattle of a drum.

      1902, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains, Chapter 4

      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.

      1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 133

   2. archaiccountableuncountableNoisy, rapid talk; babble.First known use 17th c.

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

      1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC

   3. archaicuncountableTrivial chatter; gossip.First known use 17th c.

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

      1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.v.5

   4. countableuncountableA noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.First known use 17th c.

      ‘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 […].’

      c. 1794, Jane Austen, Lady Susan

      1 more example

      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.

      1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC

   5. countableobsoleteuncountableA scolding; a sharp rebuke.First known use 17th–19th c.
   6. countableuncountableA rough noise produced in the throat by air passing through obstructed airways; croup; a death rattle.First known use 18th c.

plural rattles

1. alternativehistoricalunits of measureAlternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).