\Rat"tle\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Rattled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Rattling}.] [Akin to D. ratelen, G. rasseln, AS. hr[ae]tele
a rattle, in hr[ae]telwyrt rattlewort; cf. Gr. ? to swing,
wave. Cf. {Rail} a bird.]
1. To make a quick succession of sharp, inharmonious noises,
   as by the collision of hard and not very sonorous bodies
   shaken together; to clatter.
         And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms.
                                               --Addison.
         'T was but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the
         stony street.                         --Byron.
2. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as,
   we rattled along for a couple of miles. [Colloq.]
3. To make a clatter with a voice; to talk rapidly and idly;
   to clatter; -- with on or away; as, she rattled on for an
   hour. [Colloq.]

\Rat"tle\, v. t.
1. To cause to make a ratting or clattering sound; as, to
   rattle a chain.
2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
         Sound but another [drum], and another shall As loud
         as thine rattle the welkin's ear.     --Shak.
3. Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's
   judgment; to rattle a player in a game. [Colloq.]
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 ratting sound is made;
   especially, a child's toy that rattle 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. (Zo["o]l.) Any organ of an animal having a structure
   adapted to produce a ratting sound.
Note: The rattle of the 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 {R[^a]le}.
{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.