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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Cockscomb \Cocks"comb`\ (k[o^]ks"k[=o]m`), n. [1st cock, n. +
   comb crest.]
   1. See Coxcomb.
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   2. (Bot.) A plant (Celosia cristata), of many varieties,
      cultivated for its broad, fantastic spikes of brilliant
      flowers; -- sometimes called garden cockscomb. Also the
      Pedicularis, or lousewort, the Rhinanthus
      Crista-galli, and the Onobrychis Crista-galli.
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