I. rat ‧ tle 1 /ˈrætl/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: Probably from Middle Low German ratelen ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] if you rattle something, or if it rattles, it shakes and makes a quick series of short sounds:
Dan banged on her door and rattled the handle.
The window rattled in the wind.
Bottles rattled as he stacked the beer crates.
2 . [intransitive] if a vehicle rattles somewhere, it travels there while making a rattling sound
rattle along/past/over etc
The cart rattled along the stony road.
An old blue van rattled into view.
3 . [transitive] informal to make someone lose confidence or become nervous:
His mocking smile rattled her more than his anger.
It was hard not to get rattled when the work piled up.
His confidence was rattled by the accident.
4 . rattle sb’s cage spoken informal to annoy someone – used humorously:
Who rattled your cage?
rattle around phrasal verb British English
to live in a building that is much too big for you
rattle around in
Dad and I rattled around miserably in the house after Mum died.
rattle something ↔ off phrasal verb
to say several pieces of information or a list quickly and easily from memory:
Chris rattled off some statistics about the teams.
rattle on phrasal verb British English informal
to talk quickly for a long time about boring things SYN go on
rattle on about
Nancy would rattle on for hours about her grandchildren.
rattle through something phrasal verb British English informal
to do something quickly because you want to finish it
rattle up something phrasal verb British English
if a sports player rattles up a number of points, they get that number of points very quickly:
The West Indies had rattled up 411 for 5 when rain stopped play.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ object/vehicle/the ground etc
▪ shake to move suddenly from side to side or up and down, usually with a lot of force:
The floor shook from a distant explosion.
|
The walls were still shaking.
|
The trees were shaking in the wind.
▪ rattle to shake and make a noise:
The windows rattled in the wind.
|
The train was rattling over the bridge.
▪ vibrate to shake continuously with small fast movements:
The music was so loud that the whole room vibrated.
|
The atoms vibrate at different frequencies.
▪ wobble to move unsteadily from side to side:
The bike began to wobble alarmingly as she fought to control it.
|
The cup wobbled and he grabbed it to stop it from falling.
▪ rock to move gently backwards and forwards or from side to side:
The trailer rocked in the wind.
|
The boat was rocking from side to side with the waves.
▪ shudder ( also judder especially British English ) if a vehicle or machine shudders, it shakes for a short time.:
The lift shuddered then began to descend.
|
The engine shuddered into life (=it shook and then started working) .
|
The car juddered to a halt (=it shook and then stopped) outside the house.
II. rattle 2 BrE AmE noun
1 . [uncountable and countable] a short repeated sound, made when something shakes:
They listened anxiously to every rattle and creak in the house.
rattle of
the rattle of chains
the faint rattle of distant gunfire
⇨ ↑ death rattle
2 .
[countable] a baby’s toy that makes a noise when it is shaken
3 . [countable] British English an object that people shake to make a loud noise and show excitement or encouragement, for example at ceremonies or sports games
• • •
THESAURUS
■ made by things hitting other things
▪ bang a loud sound caused especially when something hard or heavy hits something else:
I heard a loud bang and rushed out to see what had happened.
|
He slammed the door shut with a bang.
▪ crash a very loud sound caused when something hits something else, especially when damage is caused:
The tray of dishes fell to the floor with a crash.
|
I heard an enormous crash outside our house, and I went to see what had happened.
▪ thud a quiet low sound made when a heavy object falls down onto surface:
There was a dull thud as the box hit the floor.
|
His head hit the ground with a sickening thud.
▪ thump a dull loud sound made when a heavy object hits something else:
There was a loud thump as Eddie threw Luther back against the wall.
▪ clink a short ringing sound made when two glass, metal, or china objects hit each other:
the clink of champagne glasses
|
The clink of cutlery could be heard in the restaurant.
▪ tinkle the pleasant sound that is made by light pieces of glass or metal hitting each other repeatedly:
He listened to the faint tinkle of cow bells in the distance.
▪ jingle the sound of small metal objects being shaken together:
the jingle of her bracelets
|
the jingle of keys
▪ rattle a short repeated sound made when things hit against each other - used especially when part of something is loose and is hitting against something:
There was a strange rattle coming from the engine.
|
the rattle of the trolley