Rattle

Rattle, rat′l, v.i. to clatter: to move along rapidly, with a clattering noise: to speak eagerly and noisily.—v.t. to cause to make a clatter: to stun with noise: to speak rapidly: to scold loudly.—n. a sharp noise rapidly repeated, as the death-rattle: a clatter: loud empty talk: loud scolding: a toy or instrument for rattling: a brisk jabberer: an annual meadow herb: a lousewort.—adjs. Ratt′le-brained, -head′ed, -pat′ed, noisy: giddy: unsteady.—ns. Ratt′le-mouse, a bat; Ratt′lepate, a noisy chatterer; Ratt′ler, a loud, inconsiderate talker: (coll.) a stunning blow: (coll.) an impudent lie; Ratt′lesnake, a poisonous snake having a number of hard, bony rings loosely jointed at the end of the tail, which make a rattling noise; Ratt′lesnake-grass, an American grass; Ratt′lesnake-mas′ter, -root, an American plant reputed to cure the bite of a rattlesnake; Ratt′lesnake-weed, a hawk-weed of the United States; Ratt′le-trap, a rickety vehicle; Ratt′lewort, a plant of genus Crotalaria; Ratt′ling, a clattering: railing.—adj. making a rattle: smart, lively: (coll.) strikingly great. [A.S. hrætele, hratele, a plant—from the rattling of the seeds in the capsules; Ger. rasseln, Dut. ratelen, to rattle.]