Part 59

4. To scold; to rail at. L'Estrange.

To rattle off. (a) To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a story. (b) To rail at; to scold. "She would sometimes rattle off her servants sharply." Arbuthnot.

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 (Rhinanthus Crista-galli), the ripe seeds of which rattle in the inflated calyx.

Rat"tle*box` (-bks`), n. 1. A toy that makes a rattling sound; a rattle.

2. (Bot.) (a) An American herb (Crotalaria sagittalis), 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.

Rat"tle-brained` (-brnd`), a. Giddy; rattle-headed.

Rat"tle*head` (-hd`), n. An empty, noisy talker.

Rat"tle-head`ed, a. Noisy; giddy; unsteady.

Rat"tle*mouse` (-mous`), n. A bat. [Obs.] Puttenham.

Rat"tle*pate` (-pt`), n. A rattlehead. C. Kingsley.

Rat"tle-pat`ed, a. Rattle- headed. "A noisy, rattle-pated fellow." W. Irving.

Rat"tler (-tlr), n. One who, or that which, rattles.