Rattle

Rattle Rat"tle, n. 1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. --Prior. [1913 Webster]

2. Noisy, rapid talk. [1913 Webster]

All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit. --Hakewill. [1913 Webster]

3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken. [1913 Webster]

The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster]

Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] --Heylin. [1913 Webster]

6. (Zo["o]l.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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}. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]