rattle
    n 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: rattle, 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
    v 1: make short successive sounds
    2: shake and cause to make a rattling noise

Rattle \Rat"tle\, n.
   1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the
      rattle of a drum. --Prior.
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   2. Noisy, rapid talk.
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            All this ado about the golden age is but an empty
            rattle and frivolous conceit.         --Hakewill.
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   3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made;
      especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.
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            The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea
            nearly enough resemble each other.    --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
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            Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. --Pope.
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   4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
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            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.
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   5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] --Heylin.
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   6. (Zool.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted
      to produce a rattling sound.
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   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.
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   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.
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   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.
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Rattle \Rat"tle\ (r[a^]t"t'l), v. i. [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.
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            And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms.
                                                  --Addison.
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            'T was but the wind,
            Or the car rattling o'er the stony street. --Byron.
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   2. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as,
      we rattled along for a couple of miles. [Colloq.]
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   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.]
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Rattle \Rat"tle\ (r[a^]t"t'l), v. t.
   1. To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, to
      rattle a chain.
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   2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.
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            Sound but another [drum], and another shall
            As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear. --Shak.
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   3. Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's
      judgment; to rattle a player in a game. [Colloq.]
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   4. To scold; to rail at. --L'Estrange.
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   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.
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