Rattle
(Rat"tle), n.
1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. Prior.
2. Noisy, rapid talk.
All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.
Hakewill. 3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.
The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.
Sir W. Raleigh.
Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
Pope. 4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
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. 5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] Heylin.
6. (Zoöl.) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
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.
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 Râle.
To spring a rattle, to cause it to sound. — Yellow rattle (Bot.), a yellow-flowered herb the ripe seeds
of which rattle in the inflated calyx.
Rattlebox
(Rat"tle*box`) n.
1. A toy that makes a rattling sound; a rattle.
2. (Bot.) (a) An American herb the seeds of which, when ripe, rattle in the inflated pod. (b) Any
species of Crotalaria, a genus of yellow-flowered herbs, with inflated, many-seeded pods.
Rattle-brained
(Rat"tle-brained`) a. Giddy; rattle-headed.
Rattlehead
(Rat"tle*head`) n. An empty, noisy talker.
Rattle-headed
(Rat"tle-head`ed), a. Noisy; giddy; unsteady.
Rattlemouse
(Rat"tle*mouse`) n. A bat. [Obs.] Puttenham.
Rattlepate
(Rat"tle*pate`) n. A rattlehead. C. Kingsley.
Rattle-pated
(Rat"tle-pat`ed), a. Rattle- headed. "A noisy, rattle-pated fellow." W. Irving.
Rattler
(Rat"tler) n. One who, or that which, rattles.
Rattlesnake
(Rat"tle*snake`) n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of venomous American snakes belonging
to the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking joints
at the end of the tail which make a sharp rattling sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the
