rattle

Meanings

Noun

• a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
• A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
• A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
• A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
• Noisy, rapid talk.
• Trivial chatter; gossip.
• A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
• A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
• Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
• The noise produced in the throat by air passing through mucus which the lungs struggle to clear.
• The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel - sometimes occurs as a person nears death; death rattle.
• Any plant of the genus Rhinanthus, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.
• Alternative of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).

Verb

• To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
• To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
• To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.
• To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
• To scold; to rail at.
• To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.
• To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.

Origin

• Verb from Middle English, either from Old English (not attested) or Middle Dutch ratelen, ultimately imitative. The noun (c. 1500) is from the verb.
• From Arabic رَطْل, variant of classical رِطْل, ultimately from Ancient Greek λίτρα. liter.