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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Spring \Spring\ (spr[i^]ng), v. t.
   1. To cause to spring up; to start or rouse, as game; to
      cause to rise from the earth, or from a covert; as, to
      spring a pheasant.
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   2. To produce or disclose suddenly or unexpectedly; as, to
      spring a surprise on someone; to spring a joke.
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            She starts, and leaves her bed, and springs a light.
                                                  --Dryden.
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            The friends to the cause sprang a new project.
                                                  --Swift.
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   3. To cause to explode; as, to spring a mine.
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   4. To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as,
      to spring a mast or a yard.
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   5. To cause to close suddenly, as the parts of a trap
      operated by a spring; as, to spring a trap.
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   6. To bend by force, as something stiff or strong; to force
      or put by bending, as a beam into its sockets, and
      allowing it to straighten when in place; -- often with in,
      out, etc.; as, to spring in a slat or a bar.
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   7. To pass over by leaping; as, to spring a fence.
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   8. To release (a person) from confinement, especially from a
      prison. [colloquial]
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   To spring a butt (Naut.), to loosen the end of a plank in a
      ship's bottom.

   To spring a leak (Naut.), to begin to leak.

   To spring an arch (Arch.), to build an arch; -- a common
      term among masons; as, to spring an arch over a lintel.

   To spring a rattle, to cause a rattle to sound. See
      Watchman's rattle, under Watchman.

   To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail
      nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel.
      --Mar. Dict.

   To spring a mast or To spring a spar (Naut.), to strain
      it so that it is unserviceable.
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