A rattle is a loud, high-pitched sound that something makes when it's shaken or moved.
You might hear a rattle coming from an old car with loose parts or a bag of clothes with a few coins inside. People also use "rattle" to describe the noise someone's teeth make when they're hungry or cold. For example, if you see your friend shivering and their teeth start chattering, you could say, "You must be freezing – your teeth are rattling!" In sports, coaches might yell at an opponent to stop racking up points by "rattling" the goal with multiple shots on net.
How common is "rattle"?
Word rattle is considered uncommon in modern English. It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.
Definitions
noun
A sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
Example: I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
Noisy, rapid talk.
Trivial chatter; gossip.
A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
Example: 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.
The noise produced in the throat by air passing through mucus which the lungs struggle to clear.
The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel - sometimes occurs as a person nears death; death rattle.
Any plant of the genus Rhinanthus, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.
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verb
To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
Example: Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.
To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.
Example: I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling.
To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
To scold; to rail at.
To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.
Example: We rattled along for a couple of miles.
To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.
