• IPA: /ˈɹæt.l̩/

rattle (plural rattles)

1. (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.

   I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.

   • The rattle of a drum.

2. A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify ), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019 ↗:

3. A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
4. (musical instruments) A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.

   • The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.

5. (dated) Noisy, rapid talk.

   • All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.

6. (now, rare) Trivial chatter; gossip.
   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.v.5:

     “And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?”

7. (dated) A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
   • 1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Goldsmith,_Oliver Goldsmith, Oliver]”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

     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.

8. A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
9. (zoology) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.

   The rattle of the rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and modified in form so as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.

10. The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; death rattle.
11. Any plant of the genus Rhinanthus, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.

• Portuguese: chocalhada
• Russian: треск
• Spanish: matraca

• French: hochet
• German: Rassel, Klapper
• Italian: sonaglio
• Portuguese: chocalho
• Russian: погрему́шка
• Spanish: sonajero, sonaja

• Portuguese: chocalho
• Russian: колоту́шка

• Portuguese: chocalho
• Russian: трещо́тка

• Portuguese: balbúrdia, vozerio
• Russian: болтовня́

• Portuguese: matraca
• Russian: болту́н

• Portuguese: bronca, reprimenda, repreensão

• Portuguese: chocalho, guizo

rattle (rattles, present participle rattling; past and past participle rattled)

1. (transitive, ergative) To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

   to rattle a chain

   Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.

2. (transitive, informal) To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.

   • “Tut!” said old Bittlesham. “Tut is right”, I agreed. Then the rumminess of the thing struck me. “But if you haven’t dropped a parcel over the race,” I said, “why are you looking so rattled?”

   • 2014, Richard Rae, "Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double ↗", The Guardian, 26 August 2014:

     That United were rattled, mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question. Nick Powell clipped a crisp drive a foot over the bar, but otherwise Milton Keynes had the best of the remainder of the first half.

3. (intransitive) To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

   I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:

     Sound but another [drum], and another shall / As loud as thine rattle the welkin’s ear.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To scold; to rail at.
6. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.

   We rattled along for a couple of miles.

7. To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.

   She rattled on for an hour.

• German: rasseln, scheppern
• Portuguese: chocalhar, chacoalhar
• Russian: треща́ть
• Spanish: traquetear

• German: verunsichern
• Portuguese: inquietar, desconcertar
• Russian: пугать
• Spanish: inquietar, enervar

• Portuguese: chocalhar, chacoalhar
• Russian: треща́ть

rattle (plural rattles)

1. (historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol#English|rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).