Definitions for the word "rattle" from multiple English dictionaries.
1. v. i.
To make a quick succession of sharp, inharmonious noises, as by the collision of hard and not very sonorous bodies shaken together; to clatter.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. v. i.
To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as, we rattled along for a couple of miles.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
3. v. i.
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.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
4. v. t.
To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, to rattle a chain.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
5. v. t.
To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
6. v. t.
Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's judgment; to rattle a player in a game.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
7. v. t.
To scold; to rail at.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
8. n.
A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
9. n.
Noisy, rapid talk.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
10. n.
An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
11. n.
A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
12. n.
A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
13. n.
Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
14. n.
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/le.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
15. v.
(-ling) 1 a give out a rapid succession of short sharp hard sounds. B cause to do this. C cause such sounds by shaking something. 2 (often foll. By along) a move with a rattling noise. B move or travel briskly. 3 a (usu. Foll. By off) say or recite rapidly. B (usu. Foll. By on) talk in a lively thoughtless way. 4 colloq. Disconcert, alarm. n. 1 rattling sound. 2 device or plaything made to rattle. rattly adj. [probably low german or dutch]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
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